Check the Official U.S. Government site at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) department of the National Institute of Health (NIH).

People with symptomless Covid-19 can carry as much of the virus as those with symptoms, a South Korean study has suggested.

South Korea was able to identify and isolate asymptomatic cases through mass testing as early as the start of March.

There is mounting evidence these cases represent a considerable proportion of coronavirus infections.

But the researchers weren't able to say how much these people actually passed the virus on.

People with a positive coronavirus test were monitored in a community treatment centre, allowing scientists to look at how much of the virus was detectable in their nose and throat swabs.

They were given regular tests, and only released once they were negative.

Results of 1,886 tests suggest people with no symptoms at the time of the test, including those who never go on to develop symptoms, have the same amount of viral material in their nose and throat as people with symptoms.

The study also showed the virus could be detected in asymptomatic people for significant periods of time - although they appeared to clear it from their systems slightly faster than people with symptoms.

The median time (the number where half of cases were higher and half were lower) from being diagnosed to receiving a negative test was 17 days in asymptomatic patients and 19.5 days in symptomatic patients.

Because of the nature of the isolation centre, the study didn't include people with severe cases of the disease. They were also younger and healthier than average.

Most coronavirus testing focuses on people with symptoms, so there is little data on asymptomatic cases.

This study gives us some more information about what they look like in the body.

The researchers acknowledge their study could not "determine the role" that the presence of the virus in asymptomatic patients played in transmission, however.

Early in the pandemic, droplets from coughs and contaminated surfaces were seen as the main routes of transmission – which is why social distancing and hand washing were highlighted as vital measures. China denied for a long time (as did the WHO!) that the virus was being passed airborne, by breathing in the exhalations of infected people.

But the possibility of a third route - what’s called "aerosol transmission" – in which infectious virus particles linger in the air, was only recently acknowledged by the World Health Organization.  

Airborne virus particles probably play a role in "superspreading events" where the infection is passed to large numbers of people in poorly ventilated spaces such as churches and restaurants.

And while outdoors the virus can be scattered by the breeze, and weakened by sunlight, indoors it can survive in the air for up to five or more hours.

One recommendation is for people to wear masks to reduce how much virus they might release, and to reduce how much virus they breathe in. The less virus released the better, and the less breathed in, the better. Illness is less severe with lower rates of virus intake.  Wear a mask indoors and outdoors in crowds and even medium level population densities. 

A doctor who diagnosed early coronavirus cases in China has stated he believes local officials covered up the scale of the initial outbreak.

Professor Kwok-Yung Yuen, who helped to investigate in Wuhan, says physical evidence was destroyed and the response to clinical findings was slow.

"When we went to the Huanan supermarket, of course, there was nothing to see because the market was clean already. So, you may say that the crime scene is already disturbed because the supermarket was cleared we cannot identify any host which is giving the virus to humans," said Professor Yuen.

"I do suspect that they have been doing some cover-up locally at Wuhan. The local officials who are supposed to immediately relay the information has not allowed this to be done as readily as it should," he added.

China has been criticised for its initial response to the outbreak, and for penalising a doctor who tried to warn colleagues about the virus in late December. In response, China has repeatedly lied and denied accusations that it withheld information about the severity of its outbreak. Furthermore, China has never allowed Western experts to conduct their own local investigations.

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In a U.S. multistate telephone survey of symptomatic adults who had a positive outpatient test result for SARS-CoV-2 infection, 35% had not returned to their usual state of health when interviewed 2–3 weeks after testing. Among persons aged 18–34 years with no chronic medical conditions, one in five had not returned to their usual state of health.

Most experts think a vaccine is likely to become widely available by mid-2021, about 12-18 months after the new virus, known officially as Sars-CoV-2, first emerged.

Four coronaviruses already circulate in human beings. They cause common cold symptoms and we don't have vaccines for any of them.

America's top infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, has said that "we could start talking about real normality again" in 2021. Although a coronavirus vaccine could be determined "safe and effective" by the end of the year, he doesn't expect it to be widely available in the US until "several months" into 2021.

"I think we will likely know whether a vaccine is safe and effective given the number of phase three trials that are starting literally next week - and there are some in other countries that are already ongoing - that we should know by the end of December of this year, the beginning of next year," he told the Washington Post.

"I think as we get into 2021, several months in, that you would have a vaccine that would be widely available to people in the United States."

A US report accuses China of "digital authoritarianism" - using technology not only to track its own citizens but to exert power beyond its borders. China is using technology to track its own citizens but also to exert power beyond its borders, the report warns.

It warns that China's mounting influence on the digital sphere could soon overshadow that of the US and other democracies.

And it expresses concern about its export of surveillance technology.

The report, commissioned by a US Senator, warns that China could rewrite the rules of the internet unless the US and its allies push back.

"The United States is now on a precipice of losing the future of the cyber domain to China," the report reads.

"If China continues to perfect the tools of digital authoritarianism and is able to effectively implement them both domestically and abroad, then China, not the United States and its allies, will shape the digital environment."

It warns that Beijing has already heavily invested in digital surveillance technology which it has exported to countries such as Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Uzbekistan.

Meanwhile many of the world's biggest tech platforms - Google, Twitter and Facebook - are banned inside China. China has never played fair - no communist country ever has.

Can we develop a herd immunity to Covid-19?

Experts say at least 50%-60% of exposure is required for herd immunity, where prevalence of exposure, and/or a vaccine, drastically reduces transmission of the virus. The CDC is careful to point out, however, that it doesn't know if the presence of antibodies prevents reinfection by the coronavirus. It appears that infection only gives a limited-time resistance, and a relatively weak resistance at that, so herd immunity may not be possible with Covid-19

Coronavirus infections in the United States are far higher than what has been confirmed, although the number of Americans who have been exposed is far below what is required for widespread immunity, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC estimated the number of infections is about 10 times higher than the confirmed cases, based on blood samples analyzed for antibodies in 10 regions. Those regions included the New York City metropolitan area, parts of Washington state, Utah, south Florida and Missouri. Samples were taken from more than 16,000 people through the spring. Researchers relied on samples taken for routine tests, such as cholesterol tests, with more than a third coming from those aged 65 or older. Results for two rounds of sampling for eight of the 10 regions were released by the CDC. All the regions surveyed showed differences in estimates arrived at through the survey and confirmed cases. In Missouri, for example, that difference was 24 times in April. Though by the second round of sampling, in late May, that dropped to 13 times.

Whether or not to wear a face covering is an important decision when Covid-19 is active in your area. Better safe than sorry is a good guide here. Many countries and states and cities are requiring them in some situations. 

To understand why face masks might work, it is important to look at how the virus that causes Covid-19 spreads in the first place.

Once it has infected someone, the Sars-CoV-2 virus responsible for the disease hijacks their cells to replicate itself. As it multiplies, these new virus particles then burst out of the cells and become suspended in the bodily fluids in our lungs, mouth and nose. When an infected person coughs, they can send showers of tiny droplets – known as aerosols – filled with the virus into the air.

A single cough can produce up to 3,000 droplets. There are fears the virus can also be spread simply through speaking. One recent study showed that we spray thousands of droplets invisible to the naked eye into the air just by uttering the words “stay healthy”.