Bengaluru: First case of COVID reinfection reported after a month of recovery

Bengaluru has now reported its first case of COVID-19 reinfection. This has come as a scary wake-up call for the city. A 27-year-old female tested positive after a month since she tested negative for COVID-19, Fortis Hospital confirmed.

Bengaluru's first COVID-19 reinfection

After a month of being COVID-negative, a 27-year-old woman in Bengaluru tested positive over the weekend. She is Bengaluru's first case of Coronavirus reinfection and this comes as another blow to the city's fight against Coronavirus.

The woman tested positive after reporting mild symptoms of the virus. She had previously tested positive in July. The woman doesn't have comorbidities and had reported fever and cough the last time. Fortis Hospital in Bengaluru confirmed the case to ANI. 

Dr Pratik Patil, consultant, Infectious Diseases at Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road said in a statement, "In the first week of July, the patient was symptomatic (fever, cough and sore throat) and was tested positive. She was admitted to the hospital and recovered well. A repeat test was conducted on her, which turned out to be negative, post which she was discharged on July 24. However, nearly after a month, in the last week of August, she developed mild symptoms again and has tested positive again. Both times she did not have any severe disease. This is possibly the first reported case of Covid reinfection in Bangalore." 

Usually, in a patient the COVID Immunoglobulin G antibody first tests positive after two or three weeks, the doctor had further stated that, in this patient's case it could have tested negative so she didn't develop immunity to the virus post-infection. Another possibility, he said could be that the IgG bodies disappeared after a month, which made her vulnerable. 

The case has concerned the public and indicated that perhaps COVID-19 is here for the long haul. It is still uncertain how long immunity lasts after COVID survivor tests negative for the virus.