The Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released findings late Monday after studying 285 COVID-19 survivors who tested positive for the coronavirus again after presumably recovering the illness. The virus samples collected from the patients couldn't be grown in culture, suggesting that the patients had indeed recovered and were actually shedding non-infectious or dead virus particles, rather than suffering from a lingering infection, Bloomberg reports.
While there will likely be more work done in this area, it's encouraging news, and South Korean health authorities — who have received praise for setting a global standard during the pandemic — will no longer consider people infectious after they recover from their illness and won't require additional tests after patients are discharged from their isolation period. That means those patients won't have to test negative before returning to work or school.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How to earn extra cash for ChristmasThe Explainer The holiday season can be expensive but there are ways to bolster your festive finances
-
Christmas gifts for children: the top toys of the yearThe Week Recommends The most sought-after kids' presents revealed
-
Should Line of Duty return?Talking Point Adrian Dunbar's hint about a series reboot has some critics worried
-
ACA opens 2025 enrollment, enters 2024 raceSpeed Read Mike Johnson promises big changes to the Affordable Care Act if Trump wins the election
-
McDonald's sued over E. coli linked to burgerSpeed Read The outbreak has sickened at least 49 people in 10 states and left one dead
-
Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cowSpeed Read The virus has been spreading among cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and earlySpeed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
-
US bans final type of asbestosSpeed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
-
Seattle Children's Hospital sues Texas over 'sham' demand for transgender medical recordsSpeed Read Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subpoenaed records of any Texan who received gender-affirming care at the Washington hospital
-
Afghanistan has a growing female suicide problemSpeed Read The Taliban has steadily whittled away women's and girls' rights in Afghanistan over the past 2 years, prompting a surge in depression and suicide
-
US life expectancy rose in 2022 but not to pre-pandemic levelsSpeed Read Life expectancy is slowly crawling back up
