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There is still no scientific evidence of immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus.

The serious virologist say:

“We don’t know yet “ ... “we can’t say “ “we hope “ “ we assume “

HILLARY LEUNG

APRIL 3, 2020 Troubling headlines have been cropping up across Asia: Some patients in China, Japan and South Korea who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and seemingly recovered have been readmitted to the hospital after testing positive for the virus again.

“scientists are still trying to answer many big questions related to the virus and the disease it causes. Among them is whether patients can be reinfected by the virus after they seem to recover from the symptoms.”

*With other coronavirus strains, experts say the antibodies that patients produce during infection give them immunity to the specific virus for months or even years, **but researchers are still figuring out if and how that works with COVID-19.*

The answer has huge implications for the spread of the disease, since researchers believe it will continue to crash across the world in waves, hitting the same country multiple times.

https://time.com/5810454/coronavirus-immunity-reinfection/

Albrecht Hügli
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  • br.de may not be the best source to find evidence about immunity. So far there are tests antibodies after an infection. A better way to search may to look for "antibodies covid-19". Also, as soon as someone (reliable, relevant,...) can say that they have something, we'll probably, hopefully hear about it on various channels. – Thomas Apr 05 '20 at 10:22
  • FYI How can one predict whether an individual infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus will be asymptomatic? – Franck Dernoncourt Apr 05 '20 at 10:51
  • Duplicate of https://medicalsciences.stackexchange.com/questions/21206/will-covid-19-survivors-develop-immunity-from-future-infections?rq=1 except for being newer. – lly Apr 05 '20 at 20:53
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    As of 5 April, the UK was saying no one has a fully functioning antibody test. The US claims to have the first as of 2 April. – lly Apr 05 '20 at 21:02
  • Regardless, the virologists are right to assume general immunity given the disease's extremely infectious nature and the general lack of reinfection among survivors. The two flies in the ointment are a) there are a handful of possible reinfections which might have simply been relapses and, the main issue, b) we aren't certain about its rate of mutation. In other words, we know almost all survivors have immunity for their strain; virologists are hesistant because it might shift to a new strain vitiating that immunity. – lly Apr 05 '20 at 21:06
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    First, this is an English language site, so all links need to either be to English language sources or translated for us. Second, popular media aren't considered credible sources here. Containing panic is as important now as answering questions, so until you clean this question up I'm closing it. – Carey Gregory Apr 05 '20 at 23:05
  • I'm closing this question as off-topic until it meets the requirements I outlined above. – Carey Gregory Apr 05 '20 at 23:06
  • @ Carey: 1. Every site can easily be translated by google chrome in every language. 2. The question is legitim without quoting any sources - no problem to find another from not popular media. 3. If you read the this article you’ll find that every quote is cited from experts who are not just posting their opinion but have made their own studies. Otherwise you can disqualify all questions and informations about this virus as off topic: datas from WHO, infected cases, mortality, effect of using masks, way of infection etc etc. even the symptoms... there are not yet meta-studies. . – Albrecht Hügli Apr 06 '20 at 07:14
  • Okay, you fixed the non-English link, but replacing it with another dramatized media article citing unnamed "experts" isn't a major improvement. Nevertheless, I'll reopen this when you edit it and make it clear which words are yours and which words you're quoting. You can mark text as a quotation. If you're not sure how to do that, click the "?" icon in the edit screen. – Carey Gregory Apr 06 '20 at 14:50
  • I don't understand what you mean with "dramatized media article"? Actually I wouldn't need any quotes of any resources but finally I agree with Ily that this Q. is a duplicate of his linked Q. What I wonder is just why this earlier Q was not off-topic while mine should be ... – Albrecht Hügli Apr 07 '20 at 08:18

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It's true that we do not have strong evidence that people who have been infected by SARS-COV-2 are immune to re-infection. However, there are a couple of reasons that it is very likely that people will not be reinfected:

1) Though coronaviruses and RNA viruses in general mutate rapidly, making it difficult for the immune system to develop a lasting response, the SARS-COV-2 virus is showing relative stability. This means that our immune system, once it makes antibodies, can use those antibodies in future responses to the virus.

2) This study in macaques showed that monkeys who had recovered from viral infection did not show any signs of reinfection when exposed to the virus again.

Melissa Y
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  • That is the same study as mentioned here and consists of a sample of only four (4) monkeys. – lly Apr 05 '20 at 20:56
  • Where's the data to support that coronaviruses mutate rapidly? I though we catch seasonal coronaviruses yearly because our immunity lapses before they come again. – Graham Chiu Apr 05 '20 at 22:54
  • may be in 2-3 weeks we will have more evidence when they will have started with broad tests ... – Albrecht Hügli Apr 07 '20 at 08:19