Asymptomatic patients and asymptomatic phases of Coronavirus Disease 2019
(COVID-19): a population-based surveillance study
#MMPMID34676080
Zheng X
; Luo S
; Sun Y
; Han M
; Liu J
; Sun L
; Zhang L
; Ling P
; Ding Y
; Jin T
; Liu Z
; Weng J
Natl Sci Rev
2020[Oct]; 7
(10
): 1527-1539
PMID34676080
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In this population-based study, we identified 307 confirmed COVID-19 cases from
massive surveillance, including 129 551 individuals screened at fever clinics or
returning from Hubei and 3710 close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 patients.
Among them, 17 patients were asymptomatic at initial clinical assessment. These
asymptomatic patients on admission accounted for a small proportion of all
patients (5.54%) with relatively weak transmissibility, and the detection rate
was 0.35 per 100 close contacts. Moreover, the dynamics of symptoms of the 307
patients showed that the interval from symptom remission to the final negativity
of viral nucleic acid was 5.0 days (interquartile range 2.0 to 11.0 days), with
14 patients (4.56%) having re-detectable viral RNA after discharge. Overall, our
findings suggested asymptomatic carriers and presymptomatic patients only
accounted for a small proportion of COVID-19 patients. Also, the asymptomatic
phase during recovery from COVID-19 implied that negativity in viral RNA is
necessary as a de-isolation criterion and follow-up is recommended.