Can you catch coronavirus twice?

May 2, 2020

It’s the question that everyone wants a clear answer to and has come up in today’s UK government briefing.

Members of the public are allowed to submit questions to the briefing now and Ashley in Yorkshire asked whether people can catch the virus causing Covid-19 twice.

Dr Harries, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England replied: “The WHO (World Health Organization) position is very similar to the one we would have, which basically says we actually don’t have enough information yet to be very clear on the immune status.

“We know that some people will have different status. We would normally expect to see some sign of immunity about 10-12 days after an infection, and then a very consistent pattern [at] about 28 days.

She adds: “There’s sometimes a delay in different individuals and we need to study this really carefully as we go forward. Our testing policy and the development of new antibody tests will help us do that.”