Fears for immunity after two European patients reinfected with Covid-19

Cases fuel concerns about the effectiveness of any potential vaccines against the virus

The re-infections have fuelled fears about the effectiveness of potential vaccines. File picture

Two European patients are confirmed to have been reinfected with the coronavirus, raising concerns about people’s immunity to the virus as the world struggles to tame the pandemic.

The cases, in Belgium and the Netherlands, follow a report this week by researchers in Hong Kong about a man there who had been reinfected with a different strain of the virus four and a half months after being declared recovered — the first such re-infection to be documented.