Four in 10 coronavirus patients in S. Korea symptomless, lawmaker says

SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- Nearly 40 percent of people in South Korea diagnosed with the new coronavirus are asymptomatic, a lawmaker said Tuesday, citing recent official data.

As of Aug. 25, a total of 17,945 people had tested positive for the virus, with health authorities having checked whether 9,756 of them had relevant symptoms at the time of being listed as confirmed cases.

Among them, 3,856, or 39 percent, were symptomless, Rep. Park Dae-chul of the main opposition United Future Party said on the basis of data from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

It is the first time that the country's formal statistics on coronavirus patients with no specific symptoms has been made public. The revelation adds to concerns about coronavirus cases that are hard to trace.

Park also expressed worries over symptomatic patients who don't know that they have been infected.

"We need to review the existing anti-virus system that starts from symptomatic patients," he told Yonhap News Agency over phone.

Earlier Tuesday, the KCDC announced 235 new confirmed infections, which bring the total caseload to 20,182.

lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)