Officials at the World Health Organization (WHO) are saying that asymptomatic spread of COVID-19 is not a “main driver” of transmission of the virus.
During a press conference on Monday, Maria Van Kerkhove, the head of the emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said, “We have a number of reports from countries who are doing very detailed contact tracing. They’re following asymptomatic cases.”
She continued, “They’re following contacts. And they’re not finding secondary transmission onward. It’s very rare.”
Additionally, she said what medical officials need to be focused on is following the symptomatic cases.
She added, “If we actually followed all of the symptomatic cases, isolated those cases, followed the contacts, and quarantined those contacts, we would drastically reduce” the spread.
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Medical professionals have previously warned that people who have the COVID-19 but are not exhibiting symptoms could be a driving factor in the transmission of the virus.
A recent study published in Annals of Internal Medicine estimated that roughly half of the spread of the virus could be traced to asymptomatic carriers of COVID-19.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that Americans wear face coverings while in public to help stop asymptomatic individuals from spreading COVID-19.
And White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx suggested earlier this year that asymptomatic individuals may be driving the spread of the virus.
However, at the time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said “this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”
