The World Health Organization made a statement against the tide, on Monday, which caused a great stir. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical manager for the coronavirus response and head of the emerging diseases and zoonoses unit, said at a press conference in Geneva that the spread of Covid-19 by a person without symptoms seemed rare: “From the data we have, it always seems rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits to a secondary individual“, she said.
She referred to a number of country reports that follow up on contacts “very detailed“:”They follow case asymptomatic, they follow contacts and they do not find secondary transmission. It is very rare – and much of it is not published in the literature “.
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This WHO statement may come as a surprise, as transmission by healthy carriers is a repeat during months of the epidemic. Just 8 days ago, Time reported just the opposite. As the newsletter “Covering COVID-19” for journalists points out, a study of June 3 published in the Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that 40 to 45% of people infected with SARS-COV 2 could remain asymptomatic.
Likewise, a recent publication of New England Journal of Medicine said it was “clear” that people without symptoms could spread the virus.
Gilbert Deray, specialist, doctor at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris, believes that it is not possible to scientifically confirm that carriers without symptoms of SARS-COV-2 do little to contaminate others.
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Contrary to what the WHO announced it is not scientifically possible to affirm that the asymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2 are not very contaminating
– deray gilbert (@GilbertDeray) June 9, 2020
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WHO realized the great stir around its declaration. She is currently holding a press briefing live.
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Asymptomatic: how long are they contagious? (News from 04/13/2020)
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