More of asymptomatic positive cases in India, says ICMR

The total COVID-19 cases in India stand at 19,984 and 69% of these positive cases of the total case were asymptomatic, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Tuesday.

The council also informed that around four lakh samples have been collected to date.

“There is only one study that suggests there are 80% cases. Secondly, in the case of asymptomatic, where the symptoms are not very clear, the chances of a patient coming and reporting the case, too, becomes low. I am now saying for the first time that if we look at the number of tests done, so far 31% belong to symptomatic category and the rest 69% would fall under asymptomatic…we can say that for every single case detected there would be two cases that may be termed as asymptomatic," aid Dr R R Gangakhedkar, ICMR head of epidemiology and communicable diseases.

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Experts believe that there is a chance that some asymptomatic people may have been carriers of the virus for a while without knowing. However, the numbers are very high in this scenario, otherwise, it would have lead to a higher number of positive cases. The officials also believe that if more testing was needed in such a scenario, the protocols will be revised accordingly.

All cases, even with very mild and mild symptoms, are identified through surveillance and contact tracing. The asymptomatic cases have been divided into three categories: purely asymptomatic, pre-asymptomatic and asymptomatic. The experts explained their pre-emptive approach and told that even in case of mild symptoms, the tests are conducted and taken care of.

As of now, according to data provided by ICMR, over four lakh samples have been tested, out of which 18,601 cases were tested positive.