Researchers Question Decision of China To Exclude Symptom-Free Patients from Coronavirus Reports
CHINA – Some researchers are questioning the decision of the country not to include in the report the symptom-free coronavirus cases.
One of the global concerns nowadays is the 2019 novel coronavirus or recently given the official name “COVID-19”. It first emerged in Wuhan City in China which is now under a lock-down.
In the Chinese community, the novel coronavirus has infected more than 60,000 people. Also, the authorities have recorded more than 1,000 deaths due to the said viral disease.
The disease has reached other countries which are now on tight guards to prevent its spread. There are confirmed cases in the Philippines, the United States, Hong Kong, France, and Japan among other nations. Most patients are from Wuhan or who had travel histories to the virus’ epicenter.
Amid the fight against the spread of the novel coronavirus, different opinions on certain matters related to it cross the surface. One of it is the stand of some researchers with regards to the reporting of the cases in the Chinese community.
Based on a report on Nature, some researchers are questioning the decision of China not to include the cases where patients are positive for coronavirus but show no symptoms. One example is the report from Heilongjiang province.
Based on the report, Chinese officials previously announced that there were 13 people who tested positive for coronavirus but were removed from the counting. It is because these people showed no symptoms.
As to the researchers, China’s decision to skip the symptom-free coronavirus cases from the counting could mislead other nations which are preparing against the disease. That is what Ian Mackay, a virologist at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, stressed.
Michael Mina, an epidemiologist and immunologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, also shares the same ground with Mackay. He stressed that it might hamper the efforts to take a closer look at the virus to understand its extent.
Several researchers aside from Mackay and Mina suspect that the count of the coronavirus-infected people in China surpasses the 74,000-report. On the other side, authorities from the health department agree with the decision of the Chinese officials stressing that people with no symptoms do not need treatment.
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