Re-positive of SARS-CoV-2 test is common in COVID-19 patients after hospital discharge. Data from high standard post-discharge quarantined patients in Macao SAR, China

PeerJ

article

Chi Leong Wong¹  Sao Kuan Lei¹  Chin Ion Lei²  Iek Long Lo³  Chong Lam⁴  Iek Hou Leong⁴ 

[1] Macao Academy of Medicine, Centro Hospitalar Conde de São Januário, Health Bureau;Department of Medicine, Centro Hospitalar Conde de São Januário, Health Bureau;Department of Respiratory Medicine, Centro Hospitalar Conde de São Januário, Health Bureau;Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Bureau

关键词: COVID-19;    Discharge;    Quarantine;    Re-positive;    Macau;    RT-PCR detection;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.11170

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

During the pandemic of COVID-19, Macau faces tremendous pressure because it is a famous gambling and tourism city with the world’s highest population density. The Macau government implemented decisive public health intervention to control the transmission of COVID-19, and there were only two independent outbreaks in Macau. In the second outbreak, all 35 cases were infected in foreign countries. They were quarantined in airborne infection isolation rooms for at least 14 days with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests after hospital discharge. Twelve (34.3%) of them had re-positive SARS-CoV-2 test results, and none of them presented any COVID-19 signs or symptoms during the entire quarantine period. In this study, the re-positive patients were more likely to be diagnosed in the early stage of the disease with a longer hospital stay. Virus re-infection is impossible in this high standard isolation setting, and reactivation is also unlikely, so that residual virus nucleic acid should be the possible reason for this phenomenon. Due to limited data about the risk of re-positive patients, it is better to quarantine patients after discharge for a prolonged period with repeat RT-PCR tests to minimize the community’s potential risk, particularly in the regions with relative plenty of resources and low community infection rate such as Macau.

【 授权许可】

CC BY