According to a new study, a large part of the cases went undetected during the coronavirus outbreak in the central Chinese metropolis of Wuhan. The study by Chinese scientists, which was published in the journal „Nature“, comes to the conclusion that in the first acute phase between January 1 and March 8, up to 87 percent of infections could have remained under the radar .
The researchers came to this conclusion by reconstructing the outbreak in Wuhan using statistical and epidemiological models. Other international studies had previously concluded that many SARS-CoV-2 infections are not recognized, for example because infected people have little or no symptoms.
Around 50,000 infections and almost 4,000 deaths were reported in Wuhan, where the pandemic had broken out worldwide. No active carriers of infection have been reported from the central Chinese city for months. In June, only 300 asymptomatic infections with the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen were discovered in two-week mass tests of almost ten million citizens, as the state news agency Xinhua reported.
Overall, China has largely brought the pandemic under control. There are hardly any new infections.
