On April 20, 51 journalists and two BMC staff members tested positive for COVID-19 in the state. All the patients were said to be asymptomatic. In its guidelines that same week, Mumbai-s civic body said that it will not test asymptomatic patients. In a report dated April 21, Maharashtra-s Education and Drug Department reported that 84 per cent of the active positive cases in Maharashtra at the time showed few or no symptoms. Some days later, a statement by the Indian Council of Medical Research ICMR notified: "Around 69 per cent Coronavirus patients in India did not show any symptoms of the infection after being tested." Worldwide data revealed that 80 per cent of the total cases had no or mild COVID-19 symptoms.

Also known as "silent spreaders", asymptomatic patients have unknowingly infected others, thus raising concern in the global medical community. A new research explains why nearly half of all people who get COVID-19 experience few or no symptoms, even though they are able to transmit the disease. "SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can relieve pain," says the study-s corresponding author Dr Rajesh Khanna, PhD, and professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine—Tucson-s Department of Pharmacology.