S. Korean woman reinfected with coronavirus after recovery

SEOUL, Feb. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea reported the first case of reinfection by the new coronavirus on Saturday amid mounting concerns over the rapid rise in virus infections here.

A South Korean woman has tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time, even after being released from quarantine, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

The 73-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with the virus earlier in the month, was released from hospital on Feb. 22 after making a full recovery.

She started showed symptoms again on Thursday and was found to have contracted the illness again on Friday, the public health agency said.

This is the first time in South Korea that a person has been infected a second time with COVID-19 after being discharged.

The woman had not traveled abroad, although her son and daughter-in-law had recently been to China's Guangdong Province, and both had contracted the virus.

Local health authorities said that the woman claimed she had stayed indoors after her release.

South Korea reported a whopping 594 additional cases of the new coronavirus to bring total infections to 2,931 as of Saturday morning.

So far, 17 virus patients have died from the virus that emerged in China late last year.

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