Asymptomatic Coronavirus Cases In Russia Estimated At 45% - Public Health Agency

CHELYABINSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2020) Roughly 45 percent of people in Russia who have tested positive for the new coronavirus showed no symptoms, the head of the national public health institute said Monday.

Veronika Skvortsova, who leads the Federal Medical-Biological Agency, told Channel One there had been a rise in asymptomatic cases since the agency widened testing for COVID-19.

"We have been detecting a lot more infected people, 45 percent of them asymptomatic, 30 percent have a mild respiratory infection, while 20 percent develop severe symptoms," she said.

The median age of patients is 44 for men and 47 for women. Severe symptoms are more often reported in people aged over 70 and those with chronic conditions.

Russia has so far confirmed 47,121 infections after conducting over 2 million tests. Of them, 3,446 patients have recovered and 405 have died. More than a half of infections are in Moscow.