asymptomatic

Be aware that a high temperature is NOT an accurate check for Coronavirus or Covid-19. Many people testing positive for Covid-19 will never have a higher than normal temperature. A presistant cough, difficulty breathing, combined with sore muscles and abnormal persistent fatigue is a more reliable check - but these also will neither show up in milder cases, nor in many asymptomatic cases, nor in cases of healthy people under the age of 40 or 50.

The only sure way to test if you have coronavirus, or Covid-19, is to be tested. Tests are available that determine present infections, using a nosal or throat swab, or saliva; and other tests are available which show past infections, using blood.

We advocate that every person be given one free blood test, and one free swab or saliva test if they have persistent symptoms.

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.