Covid-19 immunity amongst survivors is uncertain, says hospital manager

Sidney Klajner, president of Albert Einstein Hospital — one of Brazil’s top medical facilities, located in São Paulo — explained in an interview to news website Poder360 that Covid-19 patients developing subsequent immunity to the disease is far from being a given.

Contrary to other viral infections, the development of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies in individuals that have recovered from Covid-19 is not uniform, with some patients recovering from the coronavirus without developing the antibody, according to Mr. Klajner.

“We have been recommending patients leaving our hospital or recovering from the virus after 14 days of mild symptoms to behave as if they had not been infected, by using masks and hand sanitizer. The immunity [from virus exposure] is not as trustworthy as it is with other viruses such as the mumps and chickenpox,” Mr. Klajner told Poder360.

According to a recent study conducted by the Institute for Immunology and the School of Medicine at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Covid-19 patients have shown protections against immediate reinfection after recovering from the virus, but long-term immunity is still very much unproven at this point.  

Albert Einstein Hospital registered the first confirmed Covid-19 case in Latin America back in February. The hospital has also recently announced it will partner with Brazilian telecoms company Claro, part of Mexican giant América Móvil, to provide an online medical consultation plan for Claro users.

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