South Korea finds patients testing positive post-recovery from coronavirus barely infectious

FILE PHOTO: An election officer puts on a protective face mask protective before South Korean patients affected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) arrive to cast their ballots for the parliamentary election at a polling station set up at a quarantine center in Yongin, South Korea, April 11, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

SEOUL (Reuters) - Patients who tested positive for novel coronavirus after recovering from their first bout of the illness appeared to be far less infectious the second time round, South Korea's health authorities said on Wednesday.

While the trend in new cases in the country remained downward, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has begun investigating a growing number of people testing positive after recovering.