Asymptomatic spread of coronavirus is ‘very rare,’ according to WHO official

‘What we really want to be focused on is following the symptomatic cases,’ says Dr Maria Van Kerkhove

A senior World Health Organisation (WHO) official revealed on Monday that it was “very rare” for asymptomatic Covid-19 patients to spread the virus to other people.

Some people who test positive for coronavirus do not develop any symptoms, and are only tested because someone they have been in contact with has contracted the virus.

In April, the Centres for Disease, Control and Prevention (CDC), released a report, where they suggested that asymptomatic patients might need to self-isolate to prevent further spread of the virus, according to CNBC.

“These findings also suggest that to control the pandemic, it might not be enough for only persons with symptoms to limit their contact with others because persons without symptoms might transmit infection,” the report read.

However, during a press conference with WHO officials on Monday, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said that although the virus can be spread by patients without symptoms, it is not the main way it is transmitted.

Dr Kerkhove, the head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, told reporters: “From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual.”

She said that although findings are positive, more research needs to be undertaken if scientists are going to be able to “truly answer” whether the virus spreads easily from asymptomatic patients.

Dr Kerkhove added that: “We have a number of reports from countries who are doing very detailed contact tracing.

“They’re following asymptomatic cases. They’re following contacts. And they’re not finding secondary transmission onward. It’s very rare. Much of that is not published in the literature.”

Dr Kerkhove said that the focus should now be on tracing symptomatic cases, as that is what the organisation believes will help reduce the spread of the outbreak.

“What we really want to be focused on is following the symptomatic cases,” she said. “If we actually followed all of the symptomatic cases, isolated those cases, followed the contacts and quarantined those contacts, we would drastically reduce.”

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, there are now more than 1.9 million people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the US and at least 110,876 deaths.