Chinese doctors reveal up to10% of ‘recovered’ patients test positive again

It comes as officials in China fear a second wave of cases from people returning from other countries as lockdown measures were lifted.

Doctors on the front lines of the outbreak in Wuhan, China — where the virus emerged — reported that between 3 and 10% of cured patients became reinfected with the illness, though it’s unclear whether they were contagious the second time, the South China Morning Post reported.

Tongji Hospital, which identified the first COVID-19 case, confirmed that five of 145 patients — a little over 3% — tested positive again in nucleic acid tests, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The news came as experts feared that China is facing a second outbreak due to the increasing number of imported cases as well as the ‘silent carriers’ who show no symptoms.

Millions of residents of Hubei, the former centre of the pandemic, can now leave the province after officials lifted a two-month draconian lockdown.

Meanwhile, other quarantine facilities in Wuhan have seen about 5 to 10% of their recovered patients test positive again. The findings were reported by the health news outlet Life Times, which is affiliated with state-run newspaper People’s Daily.