Coronavirus: China launches study into asymptomatic cases and shared immunity

Residents of nine regions, including Wuhan, Beijing and Shanghai, to be sampled using both nucleic acid and antibody tests, state media reports

Research ‘very important as it will help us to direct our countermeasures in the future’, molecular virologist says

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China is using dual testing to determine how many people have been infected with Covid-19 but recovered without showing symptoms. Photo: AP

Published: 6:00pm, 15 Apr 2020Updated: 11:18pm, 15 Apr 2020

China has begun a major survey to determine how many people might have been infected with the coronavirus and then recovered without ever showing symptoms, while also assessing immunity levels within different communities, state media reported.

The research will be conducted in six provinces, including Hubei which was the focus of the initial outbreak, as well as Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing.

Wuhan, the capital of Hubei and home to about 60 per cent of all infections reported in mainland China, is taking the lead in the study, which involves giving both nucleic acid and antibody tests to 11,000 of its 11 million residents, state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday.

Health workers collected throat swabs and blood samples from about 900 people randomly selected from eight subdistricts of the city on Tuesday, Ding Gangqiang, head of the Wuhan epidemiological survey team, was quoted as saying.

“The purpose is to learn about the immunity level in communities and provide scientific support on how we should adjust our disease control strategies,” he said.

Professor Lu Hongzhou, a specialist in infectious diseases who heads the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre where Covid-19 patients are being treated, said he supported the research though the collection of samples had yet to start in the city.

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