Intended for healthcare professionals

Letters Covid-19: recovery certificates

Patients who have recovered from covid-19: issuing certificates and offering voluntary registration

BMJ 2020; 370 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2590 (Published 01 July 2020) Cite this as: BMJ 2020;370:m2590
  1. Raj Bhopal, emeritus professor of public health
  1. Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH3 9AG, UK
  1. raj.bhopal{at}ed.ac.uk

In my rapid response of 21 March,1 updated 9 April 2020,2 about covid-19 creating extraordinary times demanding imaginative responses,3 I wrote that people who had recovered from proven infection and were not shedding virus were a potentially invaluable asset. Having recovered, I inferred, they must have at least partial, temporary immunity. I recommended that we give them a certificate indicating that they would be largely, if not wholly, immune to a second infection this year.

I anticipated reliable antibody testing would become available, providing further reassurance on immune status, which is becoming true, although it is a …

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