Four things to know:
1. At a news briefing, Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD, head of the WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, said that though a person with COVID-19 who is not showing symptoms can spread the virus, “it still seems to be rare.”
2. There is evidence from early outbreaks of the new coronavirus that shows that asymptomatic people can spread the virus.
3. More research and data is needed to determine whether asymptomatic people with coronavirus can spread the virus widely, she said.
4. According to Dr. Van Kerkhove, governments should focus their efforts on identifying symptomatic carriers of the virus, isolating them and tracing their contacts.
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