The World Health Organization said yesterday that it is studying reports that some of the "Covid-19" patients had positive results again, after they were negative and were about to leave hospital.
South Korean officials reported, yesterday, that 91 patients who were believed to have recovered from the emerging coronavirus had tested positive again.
The director of the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jeong Eun-kyung, said that the virus may have been "active again", but that the infection was not transmitted to patients again.
In response to a question from "Reuters" about the report, the Geneva-based World Health Organization said in a brief statement: "We are aware of these reports that individuals have shown negative analyzes of Covid-19; the results of their tests are positive again after a few days." ».
"We are in close contact with our clinical experts and we are working hard to obtain more information about these individual cases," she said. "It is important to ensure that when test samples are collected from suspected patients, procedures are followed correctly."
"Since Covid-19 is a new disease, we need more epidemiological data to draw any conclusions about the outbreak of the virus," the organization added.
Korean official in disease control:
"The virus may have been active again, but the infection has not been passed on to patients again."