The World Health Organization cautioned Friday that people who have become infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, may potentially contract it twice.
“There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection,” the WHO stated in a scientific brief.
The WHO, an organization of the United Nations, noted that some governments have recently suggested testing people for the presence of antibodies to determine whether they have already contracted and overcome COVID-19 and therefore presumably immune to re-infection and fit to travel or return to work.
But as nations around the world are reeling economically from the impact of the ongoing global health crisis, the WHO warned that science has not yet proven if people with antibodies to COVID-19 are unable to contract the coronavirus more than once.
“At this point in the pandemic, there is not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an ‘immunity passport’ or ‘risk-free certificate’,” the WHO said in the scientific brief.
“People who assume that they are immune to a second infection because they have received a positive test result may ignore public health advice. The use of such certificates may therefore increase the risks of continued transmission,” the brief said.
Nearly all countries have confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the first infections in China were reported to the WHO late last year, and governments around the world have subsequently enacted mitigation efforts meant to recent the pandemic from worsening.
More than 2.8 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed across 185 countries and regions, according to Johns Hopkins University. Over 800,000 people have recovered from the disease and nearly 200,000 have died, according to the university.
