OSAKA, Feb 27 — A bus tour conductor in her 40s tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus after what appeared a recovery from the disease, the Jiji Press reported the Osaka prefectural government as saying on Wednesday.
The resident of Osaka, the capital of the western Japan prefecture, may have been reinfected, or the virus may have regained strength in her body after going latent, officials said.
The woman was confirmed infected January 29 after attending a tour that included visitors from China's Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.
After her condition improved, she was discharged from hospital on February 1. She tested negative through a screening she voluntarily took on February 6 during a monitoring period.
On February 19, she felt discomfort in the throat and had chest pain. She then visited more than once the medical institution where she had been hospitalised.
She tested positive Wednesday and was hospitalised again. She had no close contact with anybody after the February 1 discharge, according to the officials.
"The virus that went latent in the body may have come back," said Mutsuko Fujii, head of the prefectural government's health and medical department.
It appears that there was not enough virus on her throat when she tested negative, Fujii told a press conference.
— Bernama
