NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A man in Hong Kong who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month is the first confirmed person to have contracted the illness a second time, according to reports.
The 33-year-old man was hospitalized with COVID-19 at the end of March, but recovered and left the hospital on April 14, NBC News reported.
The man tested positive again on Aug. 15, after he returned to Hong Kong from a trip to Spain, with a stop in the United Kingdom, according to the outlet. He was asymptomatic, but was hospitalized out of precaution.
The second case "appears to be a slightly different virus strain from the initial one," making it a "true reinfection," rather than the lingering of an initial infection, the outlet reported.
Yale University immunologist Akiko Iwasaki, who reviewed the University of Hong Kong research that detailed the man's two cases, told the New York Times the man's "immune response prevented the disease from getting worse."
"It's kind of a textbook example of how immunity should work," she explained, adding that "natural infection created immunity that prevented disease, but not reinfection."
"In order to provide herd immunity, a potent vaccine is needed to induce immunity that prevents both reinfection and disease," she added, noting that while the man was asymptomatic, he could still have spread the virus to others.
Columbia University epidemiologist Jeffrey Shaman told the Times the two documented cases were cause for concern, but not panic.
"We've had, what, 23 million cases documented thus far, but the fact that one out of them at this point has been reinfected should not cause undue alarm as of yet," he said. "However, it remains very, very concerning — and this does nothing to dispel that — that we may be subject to repeat infection with this virus."
