COVID-19: Egyptian doctor infected with the virus for a second time

Cairo: After recovering from the coronavirus, an Egyptian doctor said he contracted the disease for a second time just a few weeks later, Egyptian media reported today.

In May, Dr Ahmed Hawash, the director of a state fever hospital in the Delta province of Damanhur, was hit by the virus but he recovered from it in June.

He said he suffered more severe symptoms of the disease the second time around compared to the first. This is contrary to the opinion that people who recover from COVID-19 build antibodies which helps protect them from a second infection.

Dr Hawash said recovery from the virus gives immunity for 45 to 60 days and warned those who had beaten the virus could yet be infected again.

Egypt is the Arab word's most populous country and it has reported a total of 98,078 cases and 4,399 fatalities but recently it has seen a drop in the daily rates of the virus.