There is actually not one, but three, distinct strains of the novel coronavirus and those infected by one then should be immune to all, according to a physician who has contributed to several news outlets.

There have been more than 1.8 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide. The virus has killed more than 113,000.

In the United States, there have been 525,704 reported cases, including 20,486 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“That data is showing us there are about three different strains of this virus circulating around and in fact the strain on the East Coast seems to be different from the West Coast, East Coast being from Europe and the West Coast being directly from China,” said Dr Nicole Saphier, from Memorial Sloan Kettering and a contributor for MSNBC, Fox News and others. “The truth is there’s probably more than three strains circulating around. The theory is if you are infected from one of the novel coronavirus strains, you probably have more general immunity and it will likely be that you are more immune to other strains.

“Think about it like the common cold which is also caused by the coronavirus, how many times can you get a common cold, and those tend to be different strains of the coronavirus,” she added. “It’s possible if you have been infected with this coronavirus which caused COVID-19, it’s possible if you were to be reinfected with another strain, you may have another mild outcome because you do have some immunity to it. The truth is we will only know as we go further along in the process. The theory right now is if you have been infected right now with a virus that causes COVID-19, it does confer some sort of immunity so that’s what we are going to go with.”

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