263 COVID-19 Repositive Cases... "No Secondary Transmission Yet" (Update)

Jung Eun-kyung, Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters for COVID-19 <이미지: Yonhap News>

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] As of the 26th, the number of patients who tested positive again after recovering from the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has been identified as 263. This is an increase of 13 from the previous day.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters for COVID-19, as of 0:00 AM on the day, the number of re-positive patients was counted at 263. Those aged 20 and under, who make up a large portion of the patients, account for 31.6%. The health authorities are investigating why these re-positive cases occur and whether they can cause additional infections.

Jung Eun-kyung, head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, said at a briefing that "virus culture tests are being conducted, and contact tracing of re-positive individuals is underway to confirm whether secondary infections have occurred."

The authorities are examining whether re-positive patients can infect their close contacts, and based on research results conducted so far, they consider the possibility to be low. While monitoring the contacts of these re-positive individuals for additional infections, no secondary transmission has been identified to date, Jung explained.

He added, "All six completed virus culture tests targeting the re-positive virus have been 'negative,'" and "59 tests are still ongoing." This means that attempts to isolate the virus were unsuccessful. It is highly likely that only trace amounts of the virus exist, insufficient for isolation and culture, or that genetic fragments of the virus detected in diagnostic tests are from viruses that have already been inactivated and lost infectivity.

Regarding plans to retest all individuals who have already recovered and been released from isolation, he said, "At present, we consider mass testing, including asymptomatic cases, to be of low necessity," and added, "Based on the investigation results of re-positive cases, we will assess the risk of infectivity and reflect this in guidelines for mass testing or strengthened management after release from isolation, supplementing them through expert consultation."

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