A photo taken at the end of 17 August 2020 shows a signal from the World Health Organization (WHO) at its headquarters in Geneva amid the COVID-19 outbreak by the new coronavirus. (Photo via Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
Earlier this week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) online page changed its position that all close contacts of known Covid-19 instances be tested, suggesting that those who don’t have symptoms “don’t necessarily want a test.”
When asked about the change, WHO Covid-19 Technical Officer Maria Van Kerkhove mentioned the scenario in particular in the United States, but told reporters that the UN fitness firm recommends that contacts, if possible, be tested, regardless of the progression of symptoms.
“We know that people who have symptoms transmit, and we know that people who don’t have symptoms can transmit the virus as well,” she said.
WHO has developed rules for countries at other stages of their outbreak, allowing them to adapt their detection strategy to their desires and capabilities, according to the intensity of transmission, he said.
To date, the new coronavirus has killed more than 826,000 people in more than 24 million inflamed people since the first outbreak of the disease in China last year.
Although the tests were conducted primarily in those that expand the symptoms, Van Kerkhove stated that, especially when investigating case groups, “the tests would possibly want to expand to look for others who are at the lighter end of the spectrum or who may indeed be asymptomatic.”
“What is vital is that testing is used as an opportunity to locate active instances so that they can be remote and that touch searches can also be performed,” he said.
“It’s basic for breaking the transmission chains.”
The debatable policy substitution at THE CDC was quietly done on its online page Monday amid white House political interference reports.
President Donald Trump has continually said that the United States conducts fewer tests and criticized the massive evidence for giving the impression that the country is badly opposed to the pandemic.
This is not true: The United States is testing at the highest level, its outbreak is worse than any other country in the world, with more than 5.8 million cases shown and nearly 180,000 deaths.
Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, expressed fear Wednesday that the CDC’s new recommendations “will give others the assumption that asymptomatic spread is not a wonderful fear. As a fact, it is.
In the past, the CDC has been under pressure that between 40 and 50% of other people with Covid-19 are asymptomatic, so it is vital to get tested to prevent the spread of the virus.
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