PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Yaxian You AU - Xinyuan Yang AU - Dongni Hung AU - Qianxi Yang AU - Ting Wu AU - Meichun Deng TI - Asymptomatic COVID-19 infection: diagnosis, transmission, population characteristics AID - 10.1136/bmjspcare-2020-002813 DP - 2021 Jul 29 TA - BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care PG - bmjspcare-2020-002813 4099 - http://spcare.bmj.com/content/early/2021/07/29/bmjspcare-2020-002813.short 4100 - http://spcare.bmj.com/content/early/2021/07/29/bmjspcare-2020-002813.full AB - A novel coronavirus first discovered in late December 2019 has spread to many countries around the world. An increasing number of asymptomatic patients have been reported and their ability to spread the virus has been proven. This brings major challenges to the control of the transmission. The discovery and control of asymptomatic patients with COVID-19 are the key issues in future epidemic prevention and recovery. In this narrative review, we summarise the existing knowledge about asymptomatic patients and put forward detection methods that are suitable for finding such patients. Besides, we compared the characteristics and transmissibility of asymptomatic patients in different populations in order to find the best screening, diagnosis and control measures for different populations. Comprehensive preventive advice is also provided to prevent the spread of infection from asymptomatic patients.