Death Reported After COVID-19 Recovery in China...Concerns Over Inadequate Discharge Diagnosis

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] In China, there have been cases where people who were infected with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and had been declared recovered tested positive again upon retesting. There have even been cases where individuals, after being declared recovered and discharged, died from COVID-19.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 5th, a 36-year-old Chinese man living in Wuhan was declared recovered from COVID-19. He was re-hospitalized two days after discharge due to the return of symptoms but ultimately lost his life. Wuhan health authorities confirmed that this man died from COVID-19, citing respiratory failure and pulmonary obstruction as the causes of death.

Cases of re-infection after discharge have also been reported outside Wuhan, Hubei Province, where COVID-19 first emerged. Such cases have been identified in Guangdong Province as well as Jiangsu and Sichuan Provinces.

In this regard, the Chinese medical community has expressed concerns that inaccurate testing and lax discharge criteria may have led to these outcomes. Questions have been raised about the accuracy of COVID-19 diagnostic kits in China. Some have pointed out that as patients were concentrated in Wuhan, there was a rush to discharge patients to make room for others, which may have contributed to these incidents.

Because of this, there are concerns that people declared recovered from COVID-19 and sent home could potentially infect others. Due to these concerns, in Hubei Province, even patients declared recovered have been required to undergo additional quarantine in separate facilities.

Professor Jin Dongyan of the University of Hong Kong stated, "This is more likely due to improper initial testing rather than reinfection with COVID-19," adding, "Issues with the quality of diagnostic kits could have caused this."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.