China said 300 asymptomatic COVID-19 transporters in Wuhan were not found to be infectious (File)
London:
Disease experts questioned a statement from the World Health Organization on Tuesday that transmission of COVID-19 by people without symptoms is “very rare”, saying that the guidelines could cause problems for governments when ‘they seek to lift the blockages.
Maria van Kerkhove, epidemiologist and WHO technical manager for the coronavirus pandemic, said on Monday that many countries looking for contacts had identified asymptomatic cases but did not find them to cause the virus to spread further. “It is very rare,” she said.
“I was quite surprised by the WHO statement,” said Liam Smeeth, professor of clinical epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who added that he had not seen the data on which were based on Kerkhove’s statement.
“This goes against my impressions of science so far which suggest that asymptomatic people – who never show symptoms – and pre-symptomatic people are an important source of infection for others.”
WHO officials were not available to comment on the matter on Tuesday. Van Kerkhove was scheduled to answer questions during a social media session on Tuesday.
Smeeth and other experts have said that understanding the risks of transmission in people with mild or non-existent symptoms is crucial, as governments begin to relax the lock-in measures they have imposed to try to reduce the spread of the disease. pandemic and gradually replace them with case monitoring and isolation plans.
“This has important implications for the tracking / tracing / isolation measures in place in many countries,” said Babak Javid, an infectious disease consultant at Cambridge University Hospitals.
Some experts say that it is not uncommon for infected people to have no symptoms.
An unrevised peer-reviewed study in Germany in May of 919 people in the district of Heinsberg – one of the highest deaths in Germany – found that about one in five of those infected was asymptomatic.
But data are scarce on the probability that these people transmit the disease.
The co-head of the Singapore coronavirus task force told Reuters on Monday that there have been cases of asymptomatic transmission between people living in nearby neighborhoods.
China said last week that 300 asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers in its central city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic, had not been found infectious.
Keith Neal, professor of epidemiology of infectious diseases at the British University of Nottingham, said that although the question of the important role of asymptomatic transmission in new infections is unclear, it is known that people with symptoms are responsible for most of the spread of the disease.
“This reinforces the importance of anyone who has any of the symptoms of COVID-19 arranging for a test … as soon as possible and isolation until they get their test result,” he said. said.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
