Open AccessAsymptomatic COVID-19 in South Africa – implications for the control of transmission
Author(s) -
Masudah Paleker,
Yamanya Tembo,
MaryAnn Davies,
Hassan Mahomed,
David Pienaar,
Shabir A. Madhi,
Kerrigan McCarthy
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
public health action
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2220-8372
DOI - 10.5588/pha.20.0069
Subject(s) - asymptomatic , covid-19 , quarantine , medicine , pandemic , epidemiology , transmission (telecommunications) , contact tracing , psychological intervention , pediatrics , virology , pathology , disease , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty) , computer science , telecommunications , psychiatry
Asymptomatic COVID-19 may contribute significantly to the pandemic trajectory based on global biological, epidemiological and modelling evidence. A retrospective analysis was done to determine the proportion of asymptomatic COVID-19 in the workplace during the lockdown period from 27 March to 31 May 2020. We found that nearly 45% of cases were asymptomatic at the time of the first test. This high proportion of asymptomatic COVID-19 cases has implications for interventions, such as enforcing quarantine of all close contacts of COVID-19 cases regardless of symptoms.