New Delhi (NVI): The World Health Organisation has said that the spread of coronavirus through people without symptoms or asymptomatic cases is very rare, despite several reports claiming that the virus is spreading rapidly even in the absence of signs for Covid-19 infection.
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s official epidemiologist said at a press briefing in Geneva yesterday that experts still believe such spread of the disease is very rare and it would be premature to arrive on any conclusion.
“From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual,” said Van Kerkhove.
She also acknowledged that many countries are reporting cases where the virus is spreading from people who are asymptomatic. She said that many of these cases were identified through contact tracing of known patients and the lack of onward transmission by asymptomatic individuals was based on data from countries carrying out detailed contact tracing.
She said WHO was reviewing such data to be sure as “much of that has been published in the literature yet,”
However, prominent health and medical experts took the WHO’s announcement with a pinch of salt, underscoring how the scientific community is still far from consensus over how the novel coronavirus operates.
