June 10, 2020

Andrew Campbell 

World Health Organization released a statement related to the transmission of no symptoms of COVID-19. The statement caught experts’ attention and also questioned the reliability of the conclusion of no symptoms of COVID-19 transmission. 

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO emerging disease and zoonosis unit, urgently called a meeting to clarify the statement that WHO made on June 9. WHO stated that the no symptoms of COVID-19 transmission is very rare based on the small amount of research. This statement caught experts’ attention and received large numbers of comments. Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb pointed out this was an impulsive conclusion. 

It is very controversial about the possibility of transmission without symptoms. Mike Ryan, head of emergency programs for WHO, stated that we still do not know the concrete transmission model. Patients who never have symptoms can be treated as cases of truly no symptoms. Some patients only showed mild symptoms with muscle aches or diarrhea. They are not aware of that they are infected and have the chances to transmit. 

US Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criticized that WHO attempted to give the misconception of the no symptoms transmission. This might lower down people’s intention to follow certain rules to prevent the disease, including maintaining social distance and wearing a mask. 

Besides, experts identified some concerns. The journal Nature published a study in April. This study showed that people might receive the disease before two days once they have symptoms. A paper showed in Annals of Internal Medicine reported that people will get infectious in various ways.

Up to now, we only know that this virus is so hard to fight and it is very transmittable, said Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research.