World Health Organisation officials said on Monday that not all patients who recovered from the coronavirus have the antibodies to fight a second infection. These remarks raised questions as to whether or not patients develop immunity after surviving the virus.
“With regards to recovery and then reinfection, I believe we do not have the answers to that. That is an unknown,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s emergencies programmes, said at a press conference.
In China’s Shanghai, a preliminary study of patients found that some patients had “no detectable antibody response” while others had a very high response, said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s lead scientist on Covid-19.
Whether the patients that had a strong antibody response were immune to a second infection is “a separate question,” Kerkhove added.
