Features of COVID-19 patients detected during community screening: A study from a rural hospital in Sri Lanka

Abstract

We studied the clinical course and virus shedding of all patients referred to Welikanda Hospital, in one month. There were 53 positives for COVID-19 by PCR. 24 (45%) were male, with an age range of 11-94 years. Of these, 41 (77%) were asymptomatic, 9 had cough, 4 had sore throat and six had fever. Pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and capillary oxygen were normal in all. A proportion of them had poor prognostic factors: asthma (n=4), hypertension (n=11), age above 60 years (n=9), and diabetes (n=11). Lymphopenia was seen in 20 and elevated CRP in 14. Viral shedding continued beyond 14 days in several persons and continued in symptomatic patients for a significantly longer time than asymptomatic patients. COVID-19 was an asymptomatic or mild illness in this group of people. Several of them continued to be RT-PCR positive even after 14 days. Such cases are an important source of community spread