Taiwan has confirmed its 18th case of novel coronavirus pneumonia. The patient is the first in Taiwan to be infected without any symptoms, but had a high viral load in his body. One expert is worried that this type of patient could slip through the cracks in prevention efforts and increase the risk of transmission within communities.


Taiwan has confirmed its 18th case of novel coronavirus pneumonia. The patient recently returned to Taiwan from Italy and is the only one of the 18 patients not to have symptoms. One expert is worried that symptomless patients can slip through the cracks in prevention efforts and increase the risk of community transmission.

If he is symptomless but his viral load is high, he is highly likely to infect others. If his viral load is low, on the other hand, he would be less likely to infect others. Our top priority right now has to be figuring out whether the majority of symptomless patients has a high or low viral load.

The expert says the percentage of SARS and MERS patients that didn't develop symptoms was very low, and NCP appears to be trending that way as well. While NCP has a lower mortality rate than SARS, it is more infectious and should not be taken lightly.

(The novel coronavirus) is acitng more and more like the flu virus, with many people experiencing only mild symptoms or even no symptoms but still able to infect others. The incubation period is getting shorter and shorter, and on the last day the infected person becomes contagious. These characteristics makes infection very hard to prevent.

The Central Epidemic Command Center says it will ask experts to find a way to test everyone that has come into close contact with infected people. Taiwan currently has at least 14 laboratories capable of processing 800-plus samples a day.



國內第18例新型冠狀病毒確診個案，是和家人從義大利旅遊返台，感染至今、沒有出現任何症狀，是台灣第一例無症狀感染者，有專家擔心，這類患者很可能是防疫上的漏網之魚，尤其當無症狀感染者、身上病毒量高的時候，就可能具傳染力，增加社區傳播的風險。

台大醫院小兒部主任 黃立民表示：「如果他無症狀，病毒量又中量或高量，那他這種人最容易傳，如果他無症狀病毒量很低，這個相對上是安全的，所以我們要，現在的當務之急，區分出無症狀的人，這兩種情況的比例各占多少。」

專家表示，過去冠狀病毒的無症狀感染者，在SARS期間並不多，MERS有一部分患者是如此，現在的新型冠狀病毒似乎更多。專家提醒，武漢肺炎的致死率、雖然比SARS低，但傳染速度較快，未來不排除演化成像流感一樣的傳染病，民眾千萬不要掉以輕心。

台大醫院小兒部主任 黃立民表示：「它(新冠病毒)現在的行為，確實是越來越像流感病毒，可以有輕症，可以有無症狀，都有感染力，潛伏期越來越短，然後它潛伏期最後一天，它就開始有傳染性了，所以這些性質，使得這個病毒很難防治。」

而中央流行疫情指揮中心則強調，將邀請專家研議擴大採檢範圍，對確診個案、所有密切接觸者進行採檢，目前全台至少有14個檢驗實驗室，一天能檢驗800多件檢體，即便擴大採檢也能因應。