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Amid the coronavirus pandemic, as cases have increased globally, there have also been a significant number of recoveries in such cases in many parts of the world. More than 2,864,070 coronavirus cases were registered in 193 countries and territories. Of these cases, at least 772,900 are now considered to be reportedly recovered, even 200,000 have succumbed.
Many countries came up with the idea of issuing these recovered patients an “immunity passport” so that they can return to their daily and routine work.
In a recent briefing, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned countries that there is no evidence that people who have had the new coronavirus are immunized and protected against reinfection, raising questions about the use of ” immunity passports “to allow at least some people to return to normal life. However, the world body has now clarified that those who have recovered will have some level of protection, and has issued a more measured statement to this effect, withdrawing the previous one.
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Complete WHO statement on ‘immunity passports’
Earlier today we tweeted about a new WHO scientific brief on “immunity passports.” The thread caused some concern and we would like to clarify:
We hope that most people infected with # COVID-19 it will develop an antibody response that will provide some level of protection. pic.twitter.com/AmxvQQLTjM
– World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) April 25, 2020
What we don’t know yet is the level of protection or how long it will last. We are working with scientists around the world to better understand the body’s response to # COVID-19 infection. So far, no study has answered these important questions. pic.twitter.com/DisLjWCa4U
– World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) April 25, 2020
About the WHO briefing
According to the previous WHO report, “There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection.” Most of the studies done so far showed that people who had recovered from an infection had antibodies in their blood, but some of these people had very low levels of antibodies. This suggested that another part of the body’s immune response, T cells, which kill infected cells, may also be “critical” for recovery.
As of Friday, no study had evaluated whether the presence of antibodies to the virus conferred immunity to subsequent virus infection in humans, the WHO said. “At this point in the pandemic, there is insufficient evidence on the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity to ensure the accuracy of a ‘immunity passport’ or ‘risk-free certificate,'” he said. The organization also said that laboratory tests to detect antibodies needed additional validation to determine their accuracy and also to distinguish between previous infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has caused the pandemic, and the other six known coronaviruses in circulation.
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Countries planning to issue ‘immunity passport’
According to a health report, last week Chile reported that it would begin issuing “health passports” to people who consider themselves recovered from the disease. In Sweden, which chose to keep large parts of society open, some scientists believe that people can end up with much higher levels of immunity compared to those who live under stricter regulations.
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