On Saturday, the Ministry of Health revealed through its Facebook livestream that the sole new local case in Negeri Sembilan had previously recovered from COVID-19 in May. However, this wasn’t mentioned in the official press release. The Ministry had shared that the individual has a working history in Indonesia and returned to Malaysia on the 7th May.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Health has clarified that the case is still under investigation and there’s a possibility for the patient to get infected for the second time. The Ministry added that 80% of recovered patients are able to get infected again.
Health Director General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah explained yesterday that the Negeri Sembilan case on 8th August had a travel history to Indonesia but due to the long incubation period, there’s a possibility that he could get infected through close contacts that are positive. The patient is asymptomatic and is currently receiving treatment at Hospital Tuanku Ja’afar in Seremban
According to the WHO, there’s currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection. It added that most studies show that recovered individuals have antibodies to the virus but some of these people have very low levels of neutralising antibodies in their blood, suggesting that cellular immunity may also be critical for recovery.
As of yesterday, there are a total of 9,094 confirmed cases and 125 deaths reported so far. Malaysia currently has 166 active cases remaining with 1 in ICU which doesn’t require respiratory support.
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