Undiagnosed virus infections could be 27 times higher in S Korea’s Daegu city: Study

Seoul, July 22

A small South Korean survey of individuals with no historical past of COVID-19, however dwelling in a metropolis with essentially the most circumstances, confirmed that roughly one in 13 had antibodies to the novel coronavirus, indicating the virus might have unfold extra extensively than thought.

The research stated primarily based on the survey, roughly 185,290 individuals may have contracted the virus in Daegu metropolis, which is the nation’s fourth-largest metropolis with a inhabitants of two.5 million.

“It was estimated that the number of undiagnosed missing cases may be 27-fold higher than the number of confirmed cases based on PCR testing in Daegu,” the research stated.

Daegu metropolis recorded 6,886 coronavirus circumstances alone as of June 6, stated the research printed on-line within the Journal of Korean Medical Science (JKMS) on July 16, however introduced by the journal on Tuesday evening in response to native media.

The research performed between May 25 and June 5 adopted 198 individuals in Daegu metropolis who had by no means been examined for COVID-19, and located 15 of them, or 7.6 per cent, had antibodies.

That is a a lot greater an infection charge than that present in a survey of greater than 3,000 individuals in South Korea that excluded Daegu, by which just one particular person confirmed neutralising antibodies to the novel coronavirus earlier this month.

Health authorities urged warning over the research, contemplating the small specimen dimension and a use of fast antibody test kits with 92 per cent specificity.

“We do estimate there are more infections than the confirmed patients in Daegu. We are in talks with the city to conduct antibody tests for some 3,300 people to estimate the size,” Jeong Eun-kyeong, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) director, instructed a briefing on Wednesday.

Antibody, or serology, exams present whether or not an individual has been uncovered to the virus. Similar research have proven an infection charges starting from 0.1 per cent in Tokyo to 17 per cent in London and 5.2 per cent in Spain nationwide.

South Korea, an early success story in containing the virus amongst its 51 million inhabitants after a extreme outbreak in Daegu in March, has reported 13,879 circumstances and 297 deaths. The nation is now battling small however persistent clusters of infections with 63 new circumstances reported on Tuesday. Reuters