Islamabad, Dec 13 (IANS): Pakistan health officials have raised "serious concerns" over the growing incidence of coronavirus re-infections at various health facilities across the country, the media reported on Sunday.

The first death from coronavirus re-infection in Pakistan was reported in October this year when a senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Rashid Rabbani, passed away after contracting the viral infection again after testing positive for the disease in May, Geo News reported.

Officials at renowned hospitals including the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) and the Indus Hospital Karachi are fully convinced that people are getting re-infected with the novel coronavirus and reporting to the hospitals with the severity of the disease for the second time.

"This is true. We are seeing a number of re-infections. Putting it together in a paper, trying to finish it but keep finding new cases," said Faisal Mahmood, senior infectious diseases expert and physician at the AKUH, told The News International on Saturday.

When asked what the percentage of people coming to the AKUH with the coronavirus re-infection was, he replied: "No percentages possible as we are not systematically asking all the infected."

Mahmood said their study on re-infection with Covid-19 was about to be completed and it would answer some of the questions people and experts have in their minds.

Senior physician and renowned pulmonologist Professor Sohail Akhtar said it had been confirmed that people were getting re-infected with the virus and during the last one week, several cases of re-infection were reported in Karachi.

The news report comes as Pakistan's overall coronavirus caseload and death toll have increased to 438,425 and 8,796, respectively.