A new coronavirus epidemic may begin in Wuhan, China, where an outbreak of COVID-19 pneumonia was recorded in December 2019. Chinese researchers came to this conclusion, the results of their work were published in the scientific journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
It turned out that there were many asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus in the city after all those who had an explicit form of infection recovered. Thus, the COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan did not really end in the spring: the infection could have spread even after all quarantine measures were lifted in and around the city.
At the same time, a significant part of new infections occurred due to contacts of healthy people with asymptomatic carriers of the virus. “Their existence suggests that the less aggressive strains of coronavirus that were the cause of these cases may re-emerge and cause a new outbreak of COVID-19 in China,” said the researchers.
According to experts, in this way weakened forms of SARS-CoV-2 are spread, which cannot cause severe forms of infection and therefore remain unnoticed by doctors.
In June 2020, the Wuhan authorities stated that there were no asymptomatic carriers of coronavirus. By the middle of the month, not a single asymptomatic carrier was identified, and not a single person who came into contact with the infected got into the observation. Even earlier, were discharged the last three patients who survived COVID-19.