China allegedly withheld critical information from its report on Coronavirus (COVID 19) after it excluded statics on 'silent carriers' - people who are infected but do not show any symptoms, a report published in a Hong Kong newspaper revealed.
Beijing hid the fact that one in three of those who tested positive had no symptom or showed delayed symptoms, South China Morning Post reported based on a classified Chinese government data.
The investigative report claimed that Beijing did not release information on 43,000 silent carriers, who had tested positive for new coronavirus, COVID 19 but did not exhibit any symptoms.
According to NZHerald, this lapse in recording such crucial information could jeopardize the strategies being used by countries that are fighting hard to contain the spread of the deadly Wuhan virus, which has infected 378,392 people and killed 16,490 globally.
The deadly virus has continued to spread across the globe, on March 23 the single fatalities in the US for the first time saw more than 100 deaths from the novel coronavirus, pushing the country's total death toll past 500.
The COVID 19 has now killed Americans living in at least 34 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and has infected more than 41,000 people nationwide, according to tracking by The Washington Post.
Do asymptomatic patients pose real danger?
The medical professionals are of the opinion that "some people are infecting others with coronavirus without realizing they're contagious themselves, illustrating a need for social distancing and the challenges in combating COVID-19."
For the doctors, the asymptomatic transmissions are a challenge as such patients with no visible symptoms make it harder to contain an outbreak, as health leaders must do more than just isolate people who are clearly sick.
The CDC, however, initially has maintained that asymptomatic transmission is "not thought to be the main way" coronavirus spreads. However, as the virus continues to spread, the medical experts say new data shows it could be playing a larger role than initially expected.
Coronavirus treatment, COVID 19 vaccine and medicine
With a vaccine for treating coronavirus yet to come, the World Health Organization has given approval for repurposing drugs instead of coming with compounds from scratch.
An experimental antiviral compound called remdesivir; the malaria medications chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine; a combination of two HIV drugs, lopinavir and ritonavir; and that same combination plus interferon-beta, an immune system messenger that can help cripple viruses are the four promising medicines that WHO is testing now.
