April 30, 2020

The role of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections: rapid living systematic review and meta-analysis

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Transmission

• Findings from this systematic review suggest that most SARS-CoV-2 infections are not asymptomatic throughout the course of infection, contrary to modeling studies that have suggested that 80-90% of SARS-CoV-2 transmissions are asymptomatic. From 8 included studies, the authors estimated the upper bound for the proportion of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections to be 29% (95% CI: 23-37%).
• An intermediate contribution of pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic infections to overall SARS-CoV-2 transmission means that combination prevention, with enhanced hand and respiratory hygiene, testing, tracing and isolation strategies, and social distancing, will continue to be needed.

Buitrago-Garcia et al. (Apr 29, 2020). The role of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections: rapid living systematic review and meta-analysis. Pre-print downloaded Apr 30 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.25.20079103