COVID-19 reinfection appears unlikely for at least 6 months

People who have had coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are unlikely to contract it again for at least six months, British researchers said on Thursday in a report posted on medRxiv ahead of peer review. 

Between April and November, they tracked more than 12,000 frontline healthcare workers at high risk for infection with the new coronavirus.

COVID-19 with symptoms occurred in 89 of 11,052 workers who did not already have antibodies showing exposure to the virus, whereas none of the 1,246 staff with antibodies developed a recurrent infection.

Staff with antibodies were also less likely to test positive for COVID-19 without symptoms, the researchers said.

"This is really good news because we can be confident that, at least in the short term, most people who get COVID-19 won't get it again," said coauthor David Eyre of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Population Health.

Maria van Kerkhove of the World Health Organization added, "We still need to follow these individuals for a longer period of time to see how long immunity lasts." -- Reuters