BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st March, 2020) China will begin to include asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus in the official statistics on Wednesday, Chang Jile, the commissioner of the disease control bureau of China's health commission, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
"In response to public concern about the asymptomatic course of the disease, beginning April 1, we will publish data on asymptomatic infected people in daily reports on the epidemiological situation," Chang said.
According to the commission, there are 1,541 asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers under medical supervision in the country, as of Tuesday, including 205 people who were infected abroad.
Asymptomatic infections are usually detected in people who have been in contact with infected people.
The Chinese health authorities have previously said they did not include patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 but had no clinical symptoms of the disease in the total number of confirmed cases since they do not essentially spread the disease. The Chinese authorities said that in accordance with the main patterns of transmission of infection, the likelihood of the asymptomatic infected people spreading the infection is small since they do not have symptoms, such as coughing and sneezing.
However, all patients who are asymptomatic should be quarantined for 14 days, as the chance to infect others remains, the commission stressed.
