Commission: 1,541 asymptomatic cases under observation
China has 1,541 people with asymptomatic novel coronavirus infections under medical observation, including 205 from overseas, the National Health Commission said.
It added that infected individuals who show no symptoms were still infectious and had caused sporadic clusters of cases.
Starting yesterday, China would publish the number and conditions of asymptomatic people due to heightened concerns over the risks posed by these stealth virus carriers, who were excluded from the official tally of confirmed cases, Chang Jile, head of the commission’s disease control bureau, said on Tuesday.
As the country stepped up screening and quarantine of symptom-free patients, health authorities were also rushing to take samples in areas severely affected by the virus for epidemiologic research on asymptomatic cases in a bid to improve its overall disease control measures, he added.
“Monitoring data has shown that some asymptomatic people have caused second-generation transmission among their close contacts, and they have set off a small number of clusters of infections,” Chang said.
Limited studies suggest that the viral loads in the respiratory samples of asymptomatic patients – a key metric of an infected person’s transmission capability – do not demonstrate distinct differences from those of confirmed cases, Chang added.
Based on available research, asymptomatic people are believed to be contagious, but more research is needed to understand the length of their contagion period as well as the strength and pathway of their transmission, according to a statement published on the commission’s website on Tuesday.
The commission also noted that it is difficult to detect asymptomatic cases and prevent them from spreading the virus as a result of missing telltale signs of the disease and limits in testing. — China Daily/ ANN