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. 2020 Nov 20;11(1):5917.
doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19802-w.

Post-lockdown SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid screening in nearly ten million residents of Wuhan, China

Shiyi Cao  1 , Yong Gan  1 , Chao Wang  1 , Max Bachmann  2 , Shanbo Wei  3 , Jie Gong  4 , Yuchai Huang  1 , Tiantian Wang  1 , Liqing Li  5 , Kai Lu  6 , Heng Jiang  7   8 , Yanhong Gong  1 , Hongbin Xu  1 , Xin Shen  1 , Qingfeng Tian  9 , Chuanzhu Lv  10 , Fujian Song  11 , Xiaoxv Yin  12 , Zuxun Lu  13
Affiliations

Post-lockdown SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid screening in nearly ten million residents of Wuhan, China

Shiyi Cao et al. Nat Commun. .

Abstract

Stringent 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.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. The occupation distribution of asymptomatic positive cases (%).
Note: Others included the self-employed, military personnel, and so on. (Source data are provided as s Source Data file.).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. The geographic distribution of the detection rate of asymptomatic positive cases.
Note: 1 represents Jianghan district; 2 represents Qiaokou district. (Source data are provided as s Source Data file.).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3. The prevalence of previously confirmed patients and the detection rate of asymptomatic positive cases of COVID-19 in each district in Wuhan.
a The prevalence of previously confirmed patients of COVID-19 in each district in Wuhan. b The detection rate of asymptomatic positive cases of COVID-19 in each district in Wuhan. (Source data are provided as s Source Data file.).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

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