File photo: Xinhua

 
 
Health officials from hard-hit Hubei Province have said that people who retest positive from coronavirus after they have been cured and discharged from hospital will not be recorded as confirmed cases, and that the authorities haven't seen people-to-people transmission from those patients.

Tu Yuanchao, the vice head of the Hubei provincial health commission, told the Hubei Daily on Sunday that people who have retested positive and show symptoms will be sent to designated hospitals for observation and treatment.  These patients will then undergo a 14-day quarantine after being discharged again. Those who are positive but asymptomatic will be sent to designated isolation sites for a 14-day observation.   

Wuhan has two designated hospitals currently being used for relapsing COVID-19 patients, Tu said, noting that as these patients were already recorded when they were first diagnosed as having coronavirus, they will not be reported as new cases. 

According to Tu, Hubei will ensure public health management measures, including health monitoring, blood checks, biochemical, oxygen saturation and chest imaging. Once a discharged patient is found to have a fever, cough or other clinical manifestations, he will be transferred to the designated hospital for further diagnosis as soon as possible.

The treatment fees for relapsing patients will be covered by national medical insurance and government subsidies.

Tu noted that they have not seen these patients infecting other people so far, but have required disease control departments to conduct epidemiological follow-up investigations.

Scientific research institutions are culturing virus samples and testing viral loads to further clarify the infectiousness of those who retest positive, Tu said.