Universal screening for SARS‐CoV‐2 infection: a rapid review
Abstract
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the novel betacoronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Most people infected with SARS-CoV-2 have mild disease with unspecific symptoms, but about 5% become critically ill withrespiratory failure, septic shock and multiple organ failure. An unknown proportion of infected individuals never experience COVID-19symptoms although they are infectious, that is, they remain asymptomatic. Those who develop the disease, go through a presymptomaticperiod during which they are infectious. Universal screening for SARS-CoV-2 infections to detect individuals who are infected before theypresent clinically, could therefore be an important measure to contain the spread of the disease.