‘Silent’ virus may be more prevalent than we thought

A study, charting the enforced isolation of cruise ship passengers during the current pandemic, has found that the prevalence of ‘silent’ symptomless COVID-19 infection may be much higher than thought. The study, published in the journal Thorax, reveals that eight out of 10 passengers and crew who tested positive for the infection had no symptoms. Thorax joint Editor-in-Chief Professor Alan Smyth said that the findings have implications for the easing of lockdown restrictions and the pressing need for accurate global data on how many people have been infected. The researchers, all of whom were onboard the vessel, describe events on an expedition cruise ship carrying 128 passengers and 95 crew. The ship departed from Ushuaia, Argentina, for a planned 21-day cruise of the Antarctic, setting sail in mid-March after the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Passengers who, in the previous three weeks, had passed through countries where COVID-19...