(Photo: Reuters)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Insitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a recent White House briefing that somewhere between 25 and 50 percent of asymptomatic COVID-19 patients can still transmit the illness.

ASYMPTOMATIC COVID-19 PATIENTS

Asymptomatic COVID-19 patients are those who are not showing any symptoms of the new virus. However, these asymptomatic carriers are most likely to contribute to the rapid growth of COVID-19 cases across the United States, according to Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Now, there are more than 1.4 million COVID-19 cases across the globe, while the death toll has reached more than 81,000, according to worldometers. COVID-19 cases around the world are expected to have its peak once testing kits are already available for everyone who needs to be tested for the virus.

However, as long as there is no vaccine for this deadly and infectious virus, the infection rate will continue to increase. It is for this reason that more than 30 pharmaceutical companies are now in a race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine that will protect everyone against the virus.

BETWEEN 25 AND 50 PERCENT OF ASYMPTOMATIC PATIENTS CAN TRANSMIT THE VIRUS

This theory was supported by Stephen Morse, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, who said that there is a significant transmission by people who are not showing any COVID-19 symptoms. 

Moreover, Dr. Fauci also said that the number he mentioned was just an estimate and added that there is a disagreement among his colleagues as to how many are asymptomatic. But Dr. Fauci was supported by Redfield as well, who told a news outlet that as much as 35 percent of infected persons are showing no signs.  

The number of COVID-19 cases has reached more than 1 million last week, and asymptomatic carriers are most likely contributing to the rapid increase of the cases, according to Redfield. This makes it challenging for the expert to assess the true extent of the pandemic.

ASYMPTOMATIC PATIENTS TRANSMITTING THE VIRUS

The first confirmed transmission of the new virus from asymptomatic COVID-19 patients was in February. It involved a 20-year-old asymptomatic woman from Wuhan, China, who passed the virus to five members of her family. However, before that happened, the woman was not showing any symptoms of the virus.

It was stated in a report from the World Health Organization that was published in February that there were few instances where people who tested positive never show any symptoms. However, they also found out that most people who were asymptomatic on the day of their diagnosis have developed symptoms days later.

The authors of the WHO report wrote: "The proportion of truly asymptomatic infections is unclear but appears to be relatively rare."

In another article from a news outlet, it was reported that based on the study of WHO, 75 percent of people in China who were first reported as asymptomatic but later on developed the symptoms of COVID-19. This is what they termed now as "Presymptomatic."  

Another study from CDC reaffirmed the previous findings. It was found in King County, Washington that among the 23 COVID-19 patients, only 10 showed symptoms during the day of diagnosis while the other 10 developed the symptoms a week later.

Read related article: Doctors Warn Against Ignoring These Mild COVID-19 Symptoms