Iceland early coronavirus testing: 50% of cases have NO symptoms

Iceland took the news of the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic starting in China very seriously.

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Iceland lab testing is suggesting that 50% of coronavirus cases have absolutely no symptoms at all.

Iceland early coronavirus testing: 50% of cases have NO symptoms 09

The 360,000 people in Iceland has seen around 5% of its population tested so far, with 17,900 people tested for coronavirus. Out of these 17,900 people, Icelandic officials noticed around 50% of them had no COVID-19 coronavirus symptoms whatsoever.

Nearly half of Iceland's tests for coronavirus have been completed by biopharma company deCODE Genetics, where their screen program "accepts everybody who is not showing symptoms and not currently in quarantine".

The Icelandic government explained: "The results of the additional tests performed by deCODE have given an indication that efforts to limit the spread of the virus have been effective so far", and that "testing in the general population will continue to elicit a much clearer picture of the actual spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Iceland".

deCODE Genetics founder Dr Kari Stefansson told CNN that less than 1% of tests came back positive for coronavirus, adding that around 50% who tested positive said they were asymptomatic. Stefansson explained: "What it means in my mind, is that because we are screening the general population, we are catching people early in the infection before they start showing symptoms".

The Directorate of Health said in a statement: "Keep in mind that the screening is now randomized, but voluntary so there is some bias in the data", which added that "randomized screening program has started and a blood serum screening for antibodies is planned".

Read the entire CNN article here.

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Anthony joined TweakTown in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of tech products. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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