People who have recovered from COVID-19 and develop certain symptoms either between one and three months or more than three months after recovery will be diagnosed with COVID reinfection, an official from the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Friday.
In light of an increase in the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 three months after getting and recovering from the disease in Taiwan over the past months, the CECC has established a set of criteria for identifying COVID-19 reinfection cases.
A doctor can confirm a reinfection case if an individual presents suspected COVID-19 symptoms between one to three months after recovery that are worse than those from the previous infection, and the person tested positive using a rapid test or PCR test with a CT value of 27 or under, Lo Yi-chun (???) said at the CECC’s daily news briefing.
Also, if a recovered individual experiences symptoms more than three months after recovery and tests positive with a rapid test or PCR test with a CT value of 30 or under, the case can be reported as a reinfection after clinical diagnosis, said Lo, deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division.
After a reinfection is reported to the CECC, the individual can follow the same established procedures for COVID-19 infections to undergo quarantine and seek medical attention, Lo said.
The Centers of Disease Control will collect viral specimens from reinfection cases to sequence the coronavirus genome for the surveillance of variant strains of the virus so as to better adjust pandemic control measures, Lo said.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel