Coronavirus: asymptomatic people would not transmit the virus

This is a WHO observation that could reshuffle some cards in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization notes that patients who do not show symptoms would transmit the disease very little. We used to think that it was the opposite. If this were ever confirmed, then the responses of the health authorities should be adapted.

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We know that very many Covid-19 patients develop little or no symptoms. Until now, health authorities have considered them contagious, even as one of the main vectors of the epidemic.

But now, the WHO has analyzed the data it has had since the start of the crisis, in particular from countries which have followed exhaustively the course of patients and their contact cases. It then appears that these asymptomatic people are not so contagious as that, it is even the opposite. They only transmit the disease in rare cases.

These observations remain only observations, that is to say that they must still be verified and provide definitive proof. But if they are proven, it could well be a game-changer in the fight against the epidemic.

In fact, to attenuate its virulence, efforts should therefore be concentrated in the identification, monitoring and isolation of symptomatic people. Social distancing measures would therefore be less relevant. But while waiting to have the heart of it, they are for the moment the only ones to have demonstrated their effectiveness.  

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• WHO
• Coronavirus