Coronavirus: Man in Japan tests positive again after recovering from illness

A Japanese man who appeared to have recovered from coronavirus tested positive again less than three weeks after he left a medical facility where he was being treated.

The man, in his 70s, was a passenger on the Diamond Princess cruise ship and first tested positive for the virus on 14 February while onboard the then-quarantined vessel.

He was put in further quarantine and treated at the medical facility in Tokyo and tested negative on 2 March, reported Japanese news agency NHK.
But after returning to his home in the Mie Prefecture, within the Kansai region, he began exhibiting symptoms of the virus again and developed a fever of 39C on Thursday.

The following day, he went to a hospital to be re-tested, and reportedly was confirmed to be infected again on Saturday.

His is not the only case of apparent coronavirus re-infection. On 27 February, a Japanese woman tested positive for the virus for a second time after seemingly recovering from the illness several weeks before.