Third-time COVID infections could result in no symptoms

People who have caught COVID-19 recently — some of them being infected for the third time since last December — often experience mild or negligible symptoms, medical experts said.

Data released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Aug 3 shows that the positivity rate of COVID-19 among influenza-like illnesses at hospitals peaked twice in late December and late May respectively, and has been trending downward since June.

However, some netizens have said in posts that they were infected for the third time in recent weeks.

Wang Gang, deputy director of the infectious disease department at Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, said that more reinfections usually lead to milder and milder symptoms.

"For some people, getting infected the third time could result in no obvious symptoms, with possibly just an itchy throat when waking up in the morning," he said during an interview with Dazhong Daily, a local newspaper.

"In this case, there is probably no need to get a test, let alone take medications," he said. "I think for most people with an adequate immune system, they don't need to worry about repeated infections."

Wang Xinyu, an infectious disease specialist at Fudan University's Huashan Hospital, said during an interview with Shanghai Media Group, that the domestic infections in Shanghai and nationwide now appear to be at a low level and occur sporadically.

"Most severe cases were those who were first infected, the elderly, people with severe underlying diseases and unvaccinated groups," he said.

He added that it is rare to see hospital visitors who have been infected three times, and these few cases often only exhibit mild symptoms.