Asymptomatic patients and asymptomatic phases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): a population-based surveillance study. Issue 10 (23rd June 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zheng, Xueying; Luo, Sihui; Sun, Yong; Han, Mingfeng; Liu, Jian; Sun, Liangye; Zhang, Liangming; Ling, Ping; Ding, Yu; Jin, Tengchuan; Liu, Zhirong; Weng, Jianping
• Is Part Of: National science review. Volume 7:Issue 10(2020)
• Page Start: 1527
• Page End: 1539
• Publication Date: 2020-06-23
• Subjects: epidemiology -- public health -- surveillance -- asymptomatic -- COVID-19 -- SARS-CoV-2; Science -- Periodicals; 505
• DOI: 10.1093/nsr/nwaa141
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2095-5138

Abstract

Abstract: 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.