Recovered people can be reinfected with coronavirus
A Chinese medical expert issued the above warning on January 31. He said that people who have recovered from pneumonia are still at risk of being infected with the virus again.
At a press conference held on January 31, Zhan Qingyuan, head of the infectious diseases department at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, said that although the bodies of people who have recovered from pneumonia have built up resistance, these people still need to be vigilant to avoid being reinfected again.
“Antibodies against the virus do not last long, so there is still a risk of recovered patients being reinfected. They should continue to protect themselves,” SCMP quoted Mr. Zhan as saying.
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| Doctors are treating pneumonia patients at the epicenter of the Wuhan epidemic. Photo: THX |
According to him, people who have recovered from the disease can go to the park, but should avoid group dancing activities. “Dancing can increase the risk of cross-infection. Because dancing requires a lot of oxygen, it will be difficult to breathe if you dance while wearing a mask. Participating in dancing in squares, even with a mask, is still a risk, especially for people with high blood pressure and heart disease,” Mr. Zhan added.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government is taking a number of measures to combat the epidemic. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on January 31 that the government has arranged flights to bring back to China residents who fled Hubei province abroad.
“Considering the difficulties Chinese citizens are facing, the government has decided to arrange repatriation flights as soon as possible to bring them back to Wuhan,” Hua said.
SCMP cited statistics from China’s General Administration of Customs showing that the country imported about 56 billion masks last week. In addition, a large amount of medical protective equipment worth up to 41.8 million USD was also imported into China between January 24 and 30. This included many masks, 69,000 goggles and more than 738,000 medical protective suits.
Statistics from Xinhua News Agency show that currently, there are about 11,800 people infected in China and 259 deaths. In addition, there are nearly 137,000 people who have been in contact with Wuhan pneumonia patients, of whom about 118,480 are being quarantined and monitored.