Ngoc Hao, 30, in HCM City's Binh Thanh District first contracted coronavirus in September last year after receiving three doses of Covid-19 vaccine. He self-quarantined and recovered after three weeks. He strictly followed Covid-19 prevention measures after that but then found himself reinfected with the virus after two months with the same symptoms of high fever, cough and sore throat.
Ngoc Hao stays at a hospital for Covid-19 treatment
"I felt exhausted during the second time living with the virus," Ha said. "It was much worse than the first time. Although I've tested negative for the virus, my health has deteriorated a lot"
Nguyen Thi Lan, 27, in Hanoi's Cau Giay District first tested positive for Covid-19 last July. After recovering, she tested positive a second time in October after experiencing similar symptoms. She was surprised to find that she had bee reinfected in February this year.
"I thought that I was immune to Covid-19 so I did not follow preventive measures before my third infection," Lan said. "I felt terrible during my third Covid infection so now I have to be careful with it."
Doctor Pham Van Phuc from the Vietnam National Hospital for Tropical Diseases said that they have received many patients who were reinfected with Covid-19 two and even three times.
"These patients normally carried different variants of the coronavirus in their second and third infections," Doctor Phuc said. "A patient was reinfected just three weeks after recovering from the disease."
The doctor added that there haven't been any studies saying that Covid-19 patients will face more serious symptoms in their next infections than those in their first time. However, different variants would cause different symptoms.
"The Delta variant was found to cause most serious symptoms while Alpha and Omicron bring milder or even no problems to patients," Doctor Phuc explained.
Doctor Nguyen Huy Hoang from a military-run hospital said that Covid-19 patients may still carry some small amount of virus in their bodies after recovering.
"Sometimes the final tests show negative but patients need to monitor their health for some more time," Doctor Hoang said. "Patients should also take more physical exercise and nutrition to improve their health and immunity after their recovery."
