Symptoms of COVID-19 are a poor marker of infection according to a new UK study, which found that 86 per cent of a random sample of people who tested positive for COVID-19 during lockdown did not have any virus-specific symptoms (cough, fever and/or loss of taste/smell).
The study, published in Clinical Epidemiology, used data from the Office for National Statistics Coronavirus (COVID-19) Infection Survey pilot study - a large population based survey looking at the association between COVID-19 symptoms and COVID-19 test results.
The researchers assessed a representative population sample of people living in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who were tested between 26 April 2020 and 27 June 2020 and provided information of whether they had any symptoms.
The results showed 115 (0.32%) people out of the total 36,061 study cohort had a positive test result; 27 (23.5%) of whom were symptomatic (any symptoms) and 88 (76.5%) were asymptomatic on the day of the test.
In the overall total cohort, there were just 158 (0.43%) with COVID-19-specific symptoms (cough, fever and/or loss of taste/smell) on the day of the test.
The authors say the findings have significant implications for ongoing and future testing programmes.
Study co-author Prof Andrew Phillips (UCL Institute of Global Health) said: “When considering SARS Cov 2 testing it is important to consider the purpose of the test. A test done to indicate whether a person currently has virus levels that are likely to mean they are infectious, and not to rule in or rule out any presence of virus, does not require such a high sensitivity and cheaper rapid tests are more feasible.”
