Can you get coronavirus twice? This is how long you are immune after recovering

The current outbreak of coronavirus has now been declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The pace of the virus has caused increasing concerns about further spread, having now reached more than 120 countries, with Europe currently at the epicentre of the outbreak, which originated in China, prompting many to ask whether it is possible to contract it more than once.

Can you get coronavirus twice?

Since coronavirus first emerged in China – with the first suspected cases reported on 31 December 2019 in Wuhan – the virus has killed more than 6,500 people worldwide.
The Covid-19 strain originated in Wuhan City, Hubei Province – the largest city in central China – and is in the same family as SARS and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome).
Most people get infected with these viruses at some point during their lives, although they usually only last for a short period of time. However, there are now fears that the virus could be contracted more than once, after a woman in her 40s in Osaka, Japan, tested positive for Covid-19 for a second time.
The woman was first diagnosed with the virus in late January and was later discharged from hospital on 1 February, but has since been reinfected.
Philip Tierno Jr, professor of microbiology and pathology at New York University, told The Express, “Once you have the infection, it could remain dormant and with minimal symptoms. And then you can get an exacerbation if it finds its way into the lungs.”
A professor of emerging infectious diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, Eng Eong Ooi, told USA Today that it is still too soon to know how long people may be safe from the virus, even after their body has fought it off.
He said, “Inflammation appears to be a cause of severe Covid-19. It also helps in the development of immunity. Any conclusion will be premature, I fear. We will need studies.”
Second positive tests of coronavirus have also been reported in China, with Shanghai-based news portal The Paper reporting that one of Wuhan’s makeshift health facilities had issued an emergency notice on 5 March, stating more discharged patients had been readmitted after falling ill a second time.

Are you immune to coronavirus after you get it?

Much like the flu can mutate, it is possible that coronavirus can do the same, meaning it would make someone who has already contracted the virus susceptible to contract it a second time.
However, Dr Stephen Gluckman, an infectious diseases physician at Penn Medicine, told The Express that it seems likely that having the disease once results in immunity in most individuals, as is the case with other coronaviruses.
He said, “Coronaviruses aren’t new, they’ve been around for a long, long time and many species – not just humans – get them. So we know a fair amount about coronaviruses in general.
“For the most part, the feeling is once you’ve had a specific coronavirus, you are immune. We don’t have enough data to say that with this coronavirus, but it is likely.”
If this proves to be the case, people who initially recovered from the virus are more likely to relapse, rather than get reinfected.
However, that doesn’t mean it is not possible to contract the virus again, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains, “The immune response to Covid-19 is not yet understood.
“Patients with MERS-CoV infection are unlikely to be reinfected shortly after they recover, but it is not yet known whether similar immune protection will be observed for patients with Covid-19.”
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