Published in
Nature Research, Nature Communications, 1(11), 2020
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19802-w
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Post-lockdown SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid screening in nearly ten million residents of Wuhan, China
,
Shanbo Wei,
Jie Gong,
Yuchai Huang,
Tiantian Wang,
Liqing Li,
Kai Lu,
Heng Jiang,
Yanhong Gong,
Hongbin Xu,
Xin Shen,
Qingfeng Tian
and other authors.
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Abstract
AbstractStringent COVID-19 control measures were imposed in Wuhan between January 23 and April 8, 2020. Estimates of the prevalence of infection following the release of restrictions could inform post-lockdown pandemic management. Here, we describe a city-wide SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid screening programme between May 14 and June 1, 2020 in Wuhan. All city residents aged six years or older were eligible and 9,899,828 (92.9%) participated. No new symptomatic cases and 300 asymptomatic cases (detection rate 0.303/10,000, 95% CI 0.270–0.339/10,000) were identified. There were no positive tests amongst 1,174 close contacts of asymptomatic cases. 107 of 34,424 previously recovered COVID-19 patients tested positive again (re-positive rate 0.31%, 95% CI 0.423–0.574%). The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Wuhan was therefore very low five to eight weeks after the end of lockdown.