Infection Count: China Does Not Count Patients Who Became Negative But Then Positive Again

While the Chinese Communist Party portrayed itself as having come out of the novel coronavirus outbreak, National Public Radio (NPR) reported that some Wuhan residents who had tested positive earlier and then recovered from the coronavirus are testing positive for the virus a second time. Based on data from several quarantine facilities in Wuhan, about 5 to 10 percent of patients pronounced “recovered” have tested positive again.

Some of those who retested positive appear to be asymptomatic carriers — those who carry the virus and are possibly infectious but do not exhibit any of the illness’s associated symptoms. NPR warned that the outbreak in Wuhan is not close to being over.

However, these second-time positive patients are not included in China’s infection count.

Hubei Daily reported on March 23, that Tu Yuan, Deputy Director of the Hubei Provincial Health Commission, told news reporters that, since these patients had been reported when they were confirmed the first time, they would not be reported again as new confirmed cases, to avoid duplicate counting.

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