South Korea’s COVID-19 Infection Status: From the Perspective of Reconfirmation after Complete Recovery

Abstract

COVID-19 started to occur in South Korea by an inflow of the virus from abroad, when a traveler from Wuhan, China, was first confirmed on January 19th, 2020. Although South Korea reduced the number of newly confirmed cases and is on the way to stabilizing the situation with its disease prevention policies, problems remain. The main issue is the reconfirmation of the virus after recovery. South Korean experts believe the reconfirmed cases are caused by reactivation of the virus inside the patients’ body, rather than by virus reinfection after recovery. When considering reconfirmed COVID-19 cases, it is important to keep social distancing even after treating the infection. Despite no cases of reconfirmed patients infecting others having been reported yet, reexamination of patients after recovery is thought to be pivotal to prevent reactivation.

Keywords

• complete recovery
• covid-19
• reactivation
• reconfirmed
• social distancing