ObjectiveWe aimed to explore the syndrome evolution of re-positive COVID-19 patients who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant BA.1 and to provide a reference for Chinese medicine-based treatment of COVID-19.MethodsCollecting the medical records of patients infected with Omicron variant BA.1 from January to March 2022 in Qiboshan Hospital and Port Hospital in Henan Province. Selecting 61 patients who have re-positive after infection as the re-positive group, and 60 normal negative patients admitted at the same time as the control group. The TCM syndromes were diagnosed in 1, 4, 7, 14, 21, and 30 days after hospital admission.ResultsExamination of syndrome evolution in the control group revealed: exterior syndrome, dampness-heat encumbering the lung syndrome, epidemic toxins blocking the lungs, and deficiency syndrome(mainly qi and yin deficiency). Similarly, examination of symptomatic evolution in the re-positive group revealed dampness-heat encumbering the lung syndrome, epidemic toxins blocking the lungs, and deficiency syndrome(mainly qi and yin deficiency). In the re-positive group, the syndrome changed from excess to deficiency in (20.00±8.54) days, and the final successful turning negative occurred after (31.79±7.93) days. Re-positive occurred after (28.27±8.55) days. In the control group, the syndrome type changed from excess to deficiency in (12.89±2.77) days, and finally turned negative after (18.78±6.29) days.ConclusionSyndrome evolution in re-positive patients is as follows: 1-14 days are dominated by dampness and heat encumbering the lung syndrome, which then develops to the extreme stage of epidemic toxins blocking the lung syndrome. The late stage and recovery period of the disease in 14-30 days mainly involve a deficiency syndrome, mostly deficiency of qi and yin. The course of disease in re-positive patients is longer than that in patients with common turning negative conversion.

COVID-19;Omicron variant BA.1;re-positive;syndrome evolution;disease course