Kinkini Gupta
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Written By: Kinkini Gupta | Updated : May 30, 2022 1:01 PM IST
Asymptomatic transmission rate of COVID-19 is two-thirds less than symptomatic transmission
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic we have been strictly instructed that the rate of transmission of this virus is unprecedented. Every patient who tests positive, with or without the symptoms, should be quarantined. Asymptomatic COVID was termed as dangerous as symptomatic infection. It was feared that people with asymptomatic COVID were responsible in silently spreading this disease and experts had stated this to be the deadliest way of transmission. However, a review of 130 different studies published in the open access journal PLOS medicine contests the concept of asymptomatic transmission.
This study claims that people with asymptomatic COVID are two-thirds less likely to transmit this virus to other people. It has been found that the proportion of infection from asymptomatic patients were 50 per cent or even lower. This proves the uncertainty of asymptomatic transmission.
Diana Buitrago-Garcia of the University of Bern, Switzerland and her team stated in the study, "If both the proportion and transmissibility of asymptomatic infection are relatively low, people with asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection should account for a smaller proportion of overall transmission than pre-symptomatic individuals."
As stated in the 2021 report by Claude P. Mueller of Lancet Regional Health Europe, Asymptomatic Index cases (AIC) play a very important role in the transmission and spread of SARS-CoV2 infections. Researchers found that on an average AIC was reported to infect 0.6 contacts. Whereas Symptomatic Index Cases (SIC) were infecting 0.7 contacts. The difference between the two being meagre. Another conclusion was made after conducting a study on different households, AIC was proven to cause one fifth of a household infections.
