The new coronavirus is ``almost never'' transmitted from asymptomatic people, the WHO chief explains

Data gathered at the WHO during the press conference held by the World Health Organization (WHO) by Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, technical leader of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) problem, in response to a question from the press Based on the above, it was revealed that asymptomatic patients 'are rarely infected'.

Media briefing on COVID-19-YouTube


WHO official: Asymptomatic spread of coronavirus'very rare' | TheHill
https://thehill.com/homenews/coronavirus-report/501696-who-official-asymptomatic-spread-of-coronavirus-very-rare

According to Dr. Kerk Hove, WHO also gathers information from countries that do not have research results, and detailed follow-up results show that COVID-19 infected people were secondarily infected from asymptomatic people. It has not been found, and no significant spread of infection from asymptomatic persons is not observed.

However, in response to this announcement, Professor Ashish Jar of the Harvard School of Public Health tweeted, 'Are asymptomatic people responsible for the spread of infection? Probably yes.'

This from @WHO is getting a lot of attention and creating confusion.

I want to quickly share what I understand about this.

Bottom line question:

Are infected people without symptoms an important cause of spread?

My best guess: yes.

A thread https://t.co/NnLpf7kTVh

— Ashish K. Jha (@ashishkjha) June 8, 2020

According to Professor Jar, about 80% of COVID-19 infected people have some symptoms, and about 20% are asymptomatic. However, it can be said that 'a person who is symptomatic is excreting the virus without symptoms' because it is before the specific symptom appears that the person excretes the virus. Already, some studies suggest that 40% to 60% of the spread is from people who are 'symptomatic'.

The infectivity of the new coronavirus was found to be ``strongest before the onset'', and half of the infected people may have the virus transmitted from pre-onset people-GIGAZINE

Technically speaking, before symptoms appear, it is not a 'symptom' but a 'pre-symptom', Professor Jar said that WHO divides the two and that 'infection from asymptomatic' is less , I suspect that there may be many 'infections from previous symptoms'.

However, if 'infection from asymptomatic' rarely happens, it can be a ' game changer ', but it can not be said that it does not look at the original data referenced by WHO, Professor Jar showed a cautious attitude. I am.