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HALF OF CORONAVIRUS CARRIERS SHOW NO SYMPTOMS
The hard data, out of Iceland, straight from their (impressive) health ministry’s dedicated COVID-19 page:
– As of March 25, Iceland has administered 12,615 tests.
– Of those tests, Iceland has found 802 confirmed cases.
– While it might not sound like a lot, in a sparsely-populated nation of around 364,000 citizens, it’s an impressive number.
They’ve nearly tested 3.4 percent of the entire country (compared to the United States, and according to the COVID-19 Project data tracker: we’ve tested 432,655 of our 327 million citizens, or just a tenth of one percent of our country’s population). Iceland currently claims to have tested more citizens per capita] than any other country in the world.
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Everyone In Iceland Can Get Tested For The Coronavirus. Here's How The Results Could Help All Of Us
The small island nation’s large-scale testing strategy includes people who don’t have any symptoms.
"This effort is intended to gather insight into the actual prevalence of the virus in the community, as most countries are most exclusively testing symptomatic individuals at this time."
Of 3,787 individuals tested in the country, a total of 218 positive cases have been identified so far. "At least half of those infected contracted the virus while travelling abroad, mostly in high-risk areas in the European Alps (at least 90)," the government said on Monday.
Those numbers include the first results of the voluntary tests on people with no symptoms, which started last Friday. The first batch of 1,800 tests produced 19 positive cases, or about 1% of the sample.
"Early results from deCode Genetics indicate that a low proportion of the general population has contracted the virus and that about half of those who tested positive are non-symptomatic,” said Guđnason. “The other half displays very moderate cold-like symptoms."
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COVID-19: First results of the voluntary screening in Iceland
Iceland health authorities and deCode Genetics have undertaken comprehensive screening for the virus that causes COVID-19 among the Icelandic population. The testing by deCode Genetics started Friday 13 March and the results of the first 5 571 diagnosed tests have yielded 48 positive samples (0.86%) indicating that the prevelance of the virus is modest among the general population. A total of 473 cases have been identified in Iceland since the first case on February 28th. One person with COVID-19 has died. Twelve individuals with COVID-19 are hospitalized.
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Coronavirus: Iceland’s mass testing finds half of carriers show no symptoms
As of Sunday night, the country’s health authorities and the biotechnology firm deCode Genetics have tested more than 10,300 people. That might not sound like a large number, compared to the around 350,000 Americans who have been tested for coronavirus according to the COVID Tracking Project, but it is a far higher percentage of tests per capita - a ratio Icelandic authorities have claimed is the highest in the world.
But it is not just the numbers of people being tested that is unusual about Iceland’s approach.
Unlike other countries, where people are only tested if they exhibit symptons of coronavirus or have come into contact with known spreaders, the country is testing thousands of people from the general population who don’t exhibit any symptoms of the virus whatsoever – helping to reveal information about the nature of the pathogen and its symptoms.
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Iceland is Doing Science — ~50% of People with COVID-19 Not Showing Symptoms, ~50% Have Very Moderate Cold Symptoms
“deCode has published the results of a total of 5 490 tests. Those have yielded 47 positive results (0.86%) indicating that the prevelance (sic) of the virus is modest among the general population,” the Government of Iceland reports. “A total of 409 cases have been identified in Iceland since the first case on February 28th. One person with COVID-19 has died. Six individuals with COVID-19 are hospitalized, one in intensive care.”
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celand’s testing suggests 50% of COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic
Iceland is a small nation of about 364,000 people with strong healthcare and a supportive social system. While most affected countries are only testing those who display severe symptoms, Iceland wants to test everyone in the country for the novel coronavirus.
It can afford to do so in part thanks to its relatively low population, but also due to its well-organized and well-funded medical system. Iceland has currently carried out 10,000 tests — this is far less than what other countries have done, but on a per capita basis, Iceland ranks first in the world.
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Why Iceland might be the key to understanding coronavirus
Much has been made, however, about the lack of good data floating around because there's almost certainly at least a decent number of undetected mild or asymptomatic cases. Iceland could help change people's understanding about both the number of cases out there, as well as transmission and fatality rates. "This effort is intended to gather insight into the actual prevalence of the virus in the community, as most countries are almost exclusively testing symptomatic individuals at this time," Thorolfur Guđnason, Iceland's chief epidemiologist, told BuzzFeed.
So far, there have been 3,787 tests administered in Iceland (the government says that's a higher proportion of the population than any other country), which have yielded a total of 218 positive tests. The early results show "a low proportion of the general population has contracted the virus and that about half of those who tested positive are non-symptomatic." The sample size will increase, so it's probably worth keeping an eye on Iceland over the next few weeks
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Iceland's Prolific COVID-19 Testing Is Telling Us A Lot About The Outbreak
What can we learn from this data? Well, first thing’s first: these are preliminary results, for the time being, so we can't take them as gospel. Equally, every country has a unique infrastructure, culture, and social structure, so each country’s outbreak may not necessarily “behave” like Iceland’s.
The most interesting revelation is that Iceland’s data suggests around half of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the country did not display any symptoms.
“Early results from deCode Genetics indicate that a low proportion of the general population has contracted the virus and that about half of those who tested positive are non-symptomatic. The other half displays very moderate cold-like symptoms,” Thorolfur Guđnason, Iceland’s chief epidemiologist, told Buzzfeed News.
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