Asymptomatic people do not drive pandemic in individual countries: expert

Over 7.8 million people have already been infected with SARS-CoV-2 worldwide, and over 431,000 of them died. According to information available to WHO, from 6-40 percent of the patients undergo infection mildly or without symptoms. Research is still underway to show how these patients contribute to the spread of coronavirus. 

“Coronavirus appeared only a few months ago, so we are still learning many things about it. One of them is information that there are people who do not have any symptoms or are in the preclinical phase of the disease, referred to as very mild, which is associated only with worse mood. We do not know yet what is the contribution of these asymptomatic patients to the spread of infection, this issue is the subject of ongoing research,” Paloma Cuchi, representative of the World Health Organization in Poland, said.

According to current knowledge, new SARS-CoV-2 infections are attributed only to patients who show symptoms of the disease. Research is currently underway in all countries about the extent to which people who undergo infection mildly or asymptomatically contribute to its spread.

“We know that there is a relationship between symptoms and the amount of virus in the body and the ability to infect,” the expert added.

The disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus is most often manifested by fever, coughing, shortness of breath, muscle pain and fatigue. However, the virus can cause non-specific symptoms such as taste and smell disturbances. It is especially dangerous for the elderly, with weakened immunity and suffering from other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, lung and cardiovascular diseases. In turn, among young and healthy people, the disease in many cases is mild or completely asymptomatic.

(Newseria)