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Coronavirus: after the outbreak, asymptomatic cases lurked in Wuhan, study finds
- Researchers say blood samples indicate that at least two-thirds of people with the virus in the city showed no signs of it
- People with these infections ‘may have had weaker strains’
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An estimated 168,000 people were infected by the coronavirus during the epidemic in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, with at least two-thirds of the infections asymptomatic, according to a national study of blood antibodies.
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“A large amount of asymptomatic carriers of Sars-CoV-2 [the virus that causes Covid-19] existed after elimination of clinical cases of Covid-19 in Wuhan. Therefore, [the virus] may exist in a population without clinical cases for a long period,” the researchers concluded.
The study was conducted by scientists at the State Key Laboratory of Virology at Wuhan University and an independent medical laboratory Wuhan CMLabs. The results were published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases on Thursday.
The researchers collected blood from more than 63,100 healthy people from March to early May last year from 30 provinces to test for antibody rates, a standard measure for previous infection.
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Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan sentenced to four years in jail for Wuhan coronavirus reports
Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan sentenced to four years in jail for Wuhan coronavirus reports
They examined the blood for IgG antibodies, which suggest a person was previously infected, and IgM antibodies, which point to a current or recent infection.
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