WHO official walks back statement that asymptomatic transmission is 'very rare'

Those guys at the WHO are so uncertain that when the the phone rings they run around the room yelling,”What do I do, What do I do.”

a reply to: ratcals

It sounds like they're confusing asymptomatic with presymptomatic.

Asymptomatic people are those who are so mildly ill that they will never experience symptoms or get symptoms so mild that they won't really ever notice them.

Presymptomatic people are people who will get ill, but they aren't experiencing noticeable symptoms yet. The flu is an illness like this. You can shed virus and become contagious up to 24 hours at least before you actually feel sick from the flu, and it seems coronavirus can be the same way.

So the difference here is between cases that are truly asymptomatic and those that just haven't started to feel sick yet but will. And it seems they don't know that number.