Infection rates could be 85 times higher, and the death rate significantly lower than thought, it suggests
A new study, still to be reviewed, tells us that a great many more South Africans than we realise have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and are asymptomatic, and that the infection’s mortality rate is much lower than we thought.This is potentially very good news, says a local professor of infectious diseases, Shabir Madhi of Wits University, because it means the majority of infected people could have no symptoms or just very mild illness.
This means that the more than 2 million cases across the globe could be just a fraction of the true infection rate, which means the mortality rate is far lower than perceived.The results could be a game changer for the global response to Covid-19. Lead researcher Eran Bendavid said: “Addressing Covid-19 is a pressing health and social concern. To date, many epidemic projections and policies addressing it have been designed without seroprevalence data to inform epidemic parameters.”
Madhi told Times Select: “These data fit with other recent reports that indicate that as many as 50% to 80% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 would be asymptomatic.”
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