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By LOIS ROGERS 
57m ago
London – For those who have already been infected with Covid-19, the idea of having a certificate of immunity to allow a return to normal life seems like an attractive prospect.
The proposal, presented by British Health Secretary Matt Hancock earlier this month, is based on the theory that having the virus and defeating it means that we have developed antibodies to fight it, and these remain in our bodies for life if we were exposed. to disease. virus again.
However, new evidence about the behavior of the virus has cast doubt on the plan, as it suggests that people infected with the virus may not be protected from contracting it again.
South Korea has protected its 51 million citizens with ruthless evidence and contact tracing. But it has revealed that despite keeping coronavirus deaths at only 214, some people who have recovered from Covid-19 are testing positive for the virus a second time.
At a press conference on April 6, officials announced that 51 such cases had been identified. At the end of last week, that number had risen to 74, and is now 116.
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No details of the cases have been released, but the disclosure has raised fears that people will not develop immunity to the virus by releasing antibodies and may be reinfected.
The discovery in South Korea has also raised questions about whether some people have been reinfected with the virus or whether the virus has remained in their bodies and has been reactivated in some way.
It makes experts wonder if apparently symptomless survivors could infect others here as well.
Crucially, it also puts a question mark on whether we can ever hope to eliminate the coronavirus threat.
Now top experts, such as David Heymann, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, express fear that the virus will become endemic.
This means that it will become a permanent feature of our infectious disease landscape, causing life-threatening outbreaks periodically, just like the flu.
The first evidence that people can be reinfected appeared in February, when Japanese health authorities reported that a woman in her 40s tested positive for the virus three weeks after receiving full authorization.
In March, researchers at Fudan University in China analyzed blood samples from 175 patients who had recovered from Covid-19 and found that a third of them had produced very low levels of antibodies. This suggests that they would not be protected if they were exposed to the virus again.
Professor Heymann, who chairs the strategic and technical advisory group on infectious risks for the World Health Organization, is concerned. “It may be that the coronavirus cannot be removed from the body,” he says.
“South Korea is trying to find out if these tests show reinfection or flare-up, that is, a recurrence of the same infection. But that data will not be available for a few weeks.”
“The feeling is that antibodies are produced and can be protective, but saying that you are protected enough to go out and expose yourself to infection again might not be wise because you don’t know the level of protection you are getting from these antibodies.
“Most likely, Covid-19 may take longer than we expected, and may take indefinitely.”
The suggestion that Covid-19 could be here to stay is recognized by other experts. “We would hope to see Covid-19 become endemic,” Jan Albert, a professor of infectious disease control at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, recently told the BBC.
“And it would be surprising if it didn’t show seasonality,” he added. “The big question is whether the sensitivity of this virus to [the seasons] It will influence your ability to spread in a pandemic situation. We do not know for sure “.
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