By Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health|Mar. 16th, 2020
Undetected cases, many of which were likely not severely symptomatic, were largely responsible for the rapid spread of the COVID-19 outbreak in China, according to new research by scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The findings based on a computer model of the outbreak are published online in the journal Science.
The researchers report:
86 percent of all infections were undocumented prior to the January 23 Wuhan travel shutdown
Per person, these undocumented infections were half (52 percent) as contagious as documented infections yet were the source of two-thirds of documented infections
Government control efforts and population awareness have reduced the rate of spread of the virus in China; after travel restrictions and control measures were imposed, it spread less quickly
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