Xinhua: A new modeling analysis of COVID-19 transmission data attributed to "silent" infections has suggests that even isolation of all symptomatic individuals may be insufficient to suppress outbreaks.

According to the study, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, at least one-third of asymptomatic cases would need to be detected and isolated in order to reduce the attack rate below one percent.

"Silent" infections refer to people who either are in the presymptomatic stage or have asymptomatic infections.

In the absence of population-wide restrictions, isolation of infected individuals is key to curtailing transmission. However, the study said that the effectiveness of symptom-based isolation in preventing a resurgence depends on the extent of presymptomatic and asymptomatic transmission.