WHO aware of 2019-nCoV transmission from asymptomatic people
In its Daily Situation Report No 12 for Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), the World Health Organization (WHO) said that it knows of possible novel coronavirus transmission from infected people before they started showing symptoms.
WHO, however, notes that such cases are few.
“Detailed exposure histories are being taken to better understand the pre-clinical phase of infection and how transmission may have occurred in these few instances,” said WHO in the situation report. “Asymptomatic infection may be rare, and transmission from an asymptomatic person is very rare with other coronaviruses, as we have seen with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus.”
The United Nations international public health agency said that transmission from asymptomatic cases is thus likely not a major driver of transmission.
“The main driver of transmission, based on currently available data, is symptomatic cases,” said WHO.
The virus will more readily spread through sneezing and coughing of persons who are symptomatic.
As of February 1st, 11,953 cases of the 2019-nCoV have been confirmed globally, with 2128 being new cases that were confirmed in the last 24-28 hours.
Of those confirmed new cases, 2102 are in China, where the total number of confirmed cases has increased to 11,821.
In China, the number of severe cases is 1795, with 268 being new in the last 24-28 hours.
As of Feb. 1, there have been 259 deaths (46 new in the last 24-28 hours) in China due to the novel coronavirus.
In China, 60.5% of all cases since the start of the outbreak have been reported from Hubei Province.
Outside of China, there have been 132 (26 new in the last 24-28 hours) confirmed cases in 23 countries (4 new in the last 24-28 hours).
WHO’s risk assessment for China remains “Very High.” At regional and global levels, it is still “High.”
For the first time outside China, a health worker was diagnosed as being ill with the virus. The health worker, in France, treated two patients who were later identified as probable cases.
Outside China, the first case of third-generation human-to-human transmission was identified, according to the latest WHO situation report. The individual was exposed to a confirmed case from the cluster in Bavaria, Germany.
Also for the first time, a case was exported from a country that was not China: a patient who was identified in South Korea got exposed to a confirmed case in Japan.
In the last 24-28 hours, more cases of human-to-human transmission outside China were confirmed: “in Japan, a tour guide who is part of the same cluster of Japanese cases who had contact with tourists from Wuhan; in Germany, a case that is part of the cluster in Bavaria; and in Thailand, a taxi driver who had no travel history to China.”
The latest WHO situation report on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) can be read on WHO’s website, here.
Image attribution - China News Service／中国新闻网 (CC BY 3.0)
