Chinese Woman Infected 71 People With Coronavirus After Taking A Ride In An Elevator

Chinese woman infected 71 people with coronavirus after taking a ride in an elevator

Epidemiologists in Heilongjiang Province conducted a whole detective investigation to establish the source of the new coronavirus outbreak in early April, when the epidemic in China had already begun to decline. The super-spreader was a woman with an asymptomatic course of COVID-19, who carefully observed self-isolation, but infected dozens of people through the elevator of her house.

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The woman returned from a trip to the United States on March 19, by which time no new cases of coronavirus had been reported in Heilongjiang province for eight days, the Independent reports. The Chinese woman did not have any symptoms of the disease, her test for coronavirus was negative, but she still decided to isolate herself, because she returned from the country where the epidemic broke out. The woman was so neat that she even used the elevator alone, but at some point a neighbor entered the elevator right after her.

At the end of March, the neighbor's mother and her boyfriend attended a crowded party. On April 2, one of the participants suffered a stroke and was admitted to the hospital, looked after by his two sons, then he was transferred to another hospital. Later, they were all diagnosed with coronavirus, all three infected about sixty people in both hospitals. Other neighbors also became infected, the total number of infected reached 71.

According to epidemiologists, the chain of infection began with an elevator button in which a woman who returned from the United States rode. An antibody test confirmed that she was an asymptomatic carrier of the virus.

"The results of the investigation show how a single case of asymptomatic infection with SARS-CoV-2 can lead to widespread infection among the population," the Independent quotes the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In April, Ancha Baranova, professor at the GMU School of Systems Biology (USA), in an online interview with MedPortal, said that an elevator can become a source of infection.

“The elevator is the most dangerous place in your house right now. This is a small enclosed space in which many people are during the day, and if a sick person sneezes or touches the buttons there, then you will be very unlucky if you enter this elevator in half an hour. It is better to avoid the elevator altogether now, or go there wearing a mask and gloves,”Baranova said.