Three people in Armenia have contracted the coronavirus two weeks after being discharged from hospital, Health Minister Arsen Torosyan said at the sitting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Healthcare and Social Affairs.
He said a huge academic debate regarding the double infection cases is currently under way.
“Every day we are getting fresh scientific data on whether it is a double infection or whether the virus deactivated in the body and then reactivated again and we were unable to detect it in the inactive state,” the Minister said.
“Most probably, it is the presence of inactive particles of the virus in the tissues when the virus does not multiply, but its RNA is present in the cells, and we simply detect it while testing,” said the Minister.
Torosyan said the three have no symptoms, but the virus has been detected two weeks after being discharged from hospital. They have been isolated again to prevent the spread of the infection.
“The Ministry will decide what to do after scientific information becomes available. Double infection cases have mostly been reported in China and South Korea,” Minister Torosyan said.
He noted that South Korean scientists have come to the conclusion that it is not a double infection, but rather the presence of the virus particles in the mouth and throat for 2-3 months, which is clearly detected by PCR tests.
