Recently, more unlinked cases have been popping up around Singapore, and local transmission is beginning to rival imported cases.
Several cases didn’t show any symptoms until later on, which has raised concerns about just how contagious asymptomatic Covid-19 patients are.
A recent study from the United States of America has just confirmed that asymptomatic Covid-19 patients or carriers are in fact rather contagious.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), those who have been infected can transmit Covid-19 to others as early as 1-3 days before symptoms start to develop.
Read on for more details about this breakthrough discovery.
The study examined 243 Covid-19 cases from Singapore between 23 Jan and 6 Mar, and was on the importance of social distancing in fighting Covid-19.
Researchers identified 7 areas where patients could have been infected by others before developing symptoms.
It turns out that in 4 of 7 of the identified groups, patients were infected by asymptomatic Covid-19 carriers, 1-3 days before they started showing symptoms.
According to CNA, the study’s results could possibly mean that social distancing may not be enough to limit the spread of Covid-19.
Now that we know the asymptomatic are contagious too, more measures may need to be undertaken to ensure contact is more limited.
Since infection is dependent on the extent of contact, as well as the period of contact, this may pose a challenge to reviewing precautionary measures.
The study’s results suggest a need for more stringent measures, but it has not yet been determined exactly how contagious the asymptomatic are.
Until then, researchers are suggesting stepping up contact tracing to include the time before symptoms develop instead, reports CNA.
Recording this information would aid in future investigation of asymptomatic patients transmitting Covid-19, and could even help define how contagious they are.
It’s possible that many asymptomatic patients are going undetected worldwide, which could mean that the spread of Covid-19 is greater than we think.
Clearly, no one is safe from Covid-19 now, especially if you’re still going out and not practising social responsibility.
We don’t know how long this pandemic will plague us for, so let’s do what we can to make sure it’s handled as swiftly as possible, with the least damage.
The next 2 weeks may be crucial in how this plays out, so let’s buckle down and stay at home until we know for certain that the situation is stable.
Featured image adapted from Reddit.
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