Most people who have coronavirus do not spread it to others - study
More than half "of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Hong Kong have been associated with at least one of 135 known clusters," the researchers wrote.
By OMRI RONHealth workers start the process to test people in a car as they use a newly approved saliva-based coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at a testing site during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Edison, New Jersey, U.S., April 15, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/EDUARDO MUNOZ)
Most coronavirus infections are caused by "superspreaders" – people who spread the infection to a large number of people, according to a carried out by a group of epidemiologists in Hong Kong."Approximately 20% of SARS-CoV-2 infections are responsible for 80% of all transmission events in Hong Kong," the researchers noted. They also found that all incidents of spreading occurred indoors and that 70% of those infected did not spread the virus to others."Superspreading events are happening more than we expected, more than what could be explained by chance. The frequency of superspreading is beyond what we could have imagined," Ben Cowling, one of the study's co-authors, toldBusiness Insider. ""Now we know which measures might give you the most bang for your buck – if we could stop the superspreading from happening, we'd benefit the most people."The researchers examined several clusters of infections in Hong Kong. While there were several causes for the spread of the coronavirus, most people were infected at social events where one person spread the infection."Overall the majority (51.9%; 539/1,038) of SARS-CoV-2 infections in Hong Kong have been associated with at least one of 135 known clusters," the researchers noted. "The remaining 38.9% (210/539) of cluster cases solely involved imported cases where no onward local transmission could be identified."Some 1,037 cases – occurring from when the first case was confirmed in Hong Kong on January 23 until April 28 – were examined.The research was published on the website Research Square, a pre-print publication, where research has yet to be peer reviewed and the results cannot therefore be considered conclusive.
