Study Shows German Town Of Kupferzell Has 3.9 Times More COVID-19 Patients Than Registered

BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th August, 2020) German researchers have found that almost four times more people had contracted COVID-19 in the town of Kupferzell in Baden-Wurttemberg than it was registered, Lars Schaade, the vice president of the Robert Koch Institute said on Friday, adding that the antibodies were detected in almost 8 percent of the residents, which was not enough to prevent a second wave of the epidemic in the region.

"Roughly speaking, 8 percent of the Kupferzell residents were infected. We do not know, of course, if we can talk about immunity in the presence of antibodies, this at least proves that the immune system was dealing with the virus. But if we assume that there is immunity in this 8 percent, it will not be enough to prevent the second wave," Schaade told reporters.

The study was conducted on May 20-June 9 by the Robert Koch Institute, with the participation of 2,200 people. Schaade and his colleagues presented the results at a press conference. The study showed that 7.7 percent of Kufperzell residents had antibodies; they were slightly more common among women than men (8.7 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively). This is 3.9 times more than what was detected through conventional testing. Almost 17 percent of the locals had asymptomatic infections.

The state of Baden-Wurttemberg is among the three most affected regions in Germany. It has so far registered 38,270 COVID-19 cases. On a national level, Germany has confirmed 221,413 cases, 9,225 deaths and 200,200 recoveries.