Patients who have recovered from COVID-19 appear to maintain cellular immunity to the coronavirus for at least eight months, an Australian study shows.

Investigators from the Alfred Research Alliance in Melbourne reported that despite a decline in SARS-CoV-2 antibodies after primary infection, virus-specific memory B cells continued to provide “long-term” protection.

Lead researcher, Associate Professor Menno van Zelm from Monash University, said it also helped explain why there had been so few cases of reinfection reported.

“These results are important because they show, definitively, that patients infected with COVID-19 virus do in fact retain immunity against the virus and the disease,” Professor van Zelm said.