June 9 (UPI) — A World Health Organization epidemiologist on Tuesday clarified her comments on asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19, calling media reports suggesting that such spread of the disease is “rare” were a “misunderstanding.”
Maria Van Kerkhove said during a press briefing Monday that the spread of COVID-19 by people who have the coronavirus but are not showing symptoms was rare.
On Tuesday, she sought to clarify the statement, which was a response to a reporter’s question, saying it was based on two or three modeling studies that might not be accurate.
Her comments drew widespread criticism from the public health community.
“I was just responding to a question, I wasn’t stating a policy of WHO or anything like that,” she told the media during Tuesday’s briefing.
Earlier research has suggested that up to 40 percent of people infected with the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, are asymptomatic, meaning they have none of the outward symptoms — including cough, fever and breathing problems — but are contagious.
Although asymptomatic people often experience milder cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, they still might be able to spread it to others for up to eight days, as compared to 19 days for those with outward symptoms, researchers have said.
A study published by the journal Nature in April found that people with COVID-19 are most contagious about two days before the onset of symptoms, and estimated that 44 percent of new infections are the result of transmission from those who are asymptomatic.
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