In a development sure to make a lot of COVID-19 recovered patients exclaim ‘Oh no!’ India’s first COVID patient has been reported to have gotten infected with COVID-19 again. The medical student is one among the several hundreds in the nation that has reported getting infected by the dangerous and often fatal coronavirus.
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China has reported being the originator of the deadliest virus to have swept across the nation in the 21st century. However, when the disease emerged and was slowly taking over the world, China kept giving conflicting statements about its involvement in the matter. But one thing has always been sure – it was always a patient zero in China that knowingly or unknowingly played a part in transmitting the disease to others.
Now, India’s patient zero has come into the news. While the news surrounding the patient zero faded due to the fact that the disease’s novelty ended, new reports have again made the girl a part of the limelight, for all the reasons she would not have wanted.
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Who was the COVID-19 Patient Zero for India?
India’s COVID-19 patient zero is a student at the Wuhan University, China. She was reported to have tested positive for COVID-19 in late January. Now, the girl has tested positive for the virus once again. According to the District Medical Officer K. J. Reena, the student, who’s a resident of Mathilakam, Kodungalloor, Kerala, took the test to be positive for it again.
Patient is Asymptomatic, had not Taken COVID-19 Vaccine
It should be noted that the patient is an asymptomatic one and she underwent a screening test for the purposes of traveling to Delhi. She is under isolation currently. The district medical officer was quoted saying, “Her RT-PCR test is positive. As the student is asymptomatic, she is under observation at home.” It should be noted that she has been reported to have not taken a single shot of any COVID-19 vaccine.
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Patient Zero’s First Bout with the Virus
Earlier, the Wuhan University student had tested positive for COVID on January 30, 2020. She was reportedly the first patient and she had returned for holidays to her hometown. On February 20, the same year she was discharged from the hospital as she had tested negative. After her three weeks of isolation and treatment at the Thrissur Medical College Hospital, she was reported to have tested negative.
Chances of Getting Re-Infected After Recovering from Mild Infection
A successful fight with any virus will lead the body to have some amount of immunity, also known as antibodies, which will further protect the body from having the similar infection. According to reports, it is estimated that a person can successfully evade being reinfected for up to 90 days, given there are no comorbidities or other risk factors.
However, with the emergence of the new mutants, there’s no certainty as to just how long a recovered person could stay protected from contracting the virus.
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What about Newer Variants and its Relation to COVID-19 Reinfection?
According to the analysis by ICMR into the cases sampled from the second wave of the COVID-19, reinfection amounted to 4.5% of the overall infections. The emergence of the Delta variant could be a reason why the percentage is high. Moreover, the immunity, which is reported to peak at 90 days on average, can diminish after the body is attacked by a new more dangerous variant of the virus. The new mutations can suppress the antibodies and can make its way through the defences.
