Lab tests point to high rate of asymptomatic Covid patients

Diagnostic tests carried out at private clinics suggest that a third of patients testing positive for Covid-19 are asymptomatic, Kathimerini understands.

Since early March, 15,000 diagnostic tests have been carried out in the laboratories of the Bioiatriki group, with 1.3 percent of those tests proving to be positive. Of the patients who tested positive, 40.9 percent reported having a fever and 18.7 percent a cough while 28.9 percent reported no symptoms at all. According to Eirini Louizou, a laboratory manager at Bioiatriki, most of the patients who are asymptomatic had asked to be tested because they had returned from a trip or had been preparing to travel.

However, the high rate of patients testing positive without symptoms makes it necessary to broaden testing to reduce the number of carriers who may be spreading the virus without knowing it, she said.