The difference between confirmed cases and asymptomatic infections is mainly due to the fact that patients with asymptomatic infections do not present with the appropriate clinical manifestations.
Asymptomatic infections are pathogens that have invaded the human body and can be detected when relevant tests are done, but there are no clinical manifestations or signs. Clinically, many asymptomatic infections are not really asymptomatic infections, but may only be the incubation period of acute infections, or may evolve into overt infections.
Confirmed cases are often patients who are clinically ill and have developed relevant infectious symptoms. For example, patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia have developed fever, sore throat, conjunctival inflammation, cough, dyspnea, and other associated clinical symptoms, and nucleic acid tests are positive, and CT lungs often show signs of associated disease.
Patients with asymptomatic infections may also have clinically significant infections and require prompt medical attention.
Tip: In this article, the terms “new coronary pneumonia and new coronary virus pneumonia” were renamed to “new coronary virus infection” on December 26, 2022, as announced by the National Health Commission.