Tufton clarifies CMO’s statement on COVID-19 transmission
Published:Friday | March 13, 2020 | 12:28 AMNickoy Wilson/Staff Reporter
Health and Wellness Minister Dr Christopher Tufton has said that based on information from the World Health Organization, there is a remote chance that the novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, can be spread by a person who is asympomatic.
He was, yesterday afternoon, responding to questions in the House of Representatives posed by Opposition Spokesperson on Health Dr Morais Guy, who earlier took issue with a comment made by Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Jacquiline Bisasor-McKenzie.
The CMO said on Wednesday evening that the Government was operating on the premise that COVID-19 is spread by individuals who exhibit symptoms.
At a press conference held at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition yesterday morning, the People’s National Party (PNP) called for the Ministry of Health and Wellness to correct what it described as “gross information” stemming from comments made by the senior official.
“The chief medical officer advised in the interview yesterday (Wednesday) that they are working on the premise that the COVID-19 virus cannot be transmitted if the person doesn’t present with symptoms,” said Guy, who is also a medical doctor.
“We are objecting to that assertion because the World Health Organization has indicated that it was still possible to transmit the virus even though no symptoms are shown.”
However, Tufton, yesterday, offered a clarification.
“There is a remote possibility that the virus can be spread otherwise. The overwhelming evidence suggests that the virus is spread through droplets, meaning coughing, sneezing, that sort of thing. A lot of the advice we’ve given to date is around persons who are symptomatic, persons who are showing signs of illness as opposed to the asymptomatic case.”
The minister said, however, that that trend ought not to be treated as a zero sum game as the possibility of spread was considerable.
Jamaica this week confirmed its first two imported cases of COVID-19, with both persons contracting the virus having travelled to the United Kingdom, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday that more than 10,000 may have already contracted with the virus.