This archive report was first published on 16 June 2020.
On June 16, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) provided an update on the transmission of Covid-19 through breastfeeding.
According to the WHO, current evidence shows that breastfeeding outweighs any potential risks of transmission of Covid-19.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized the importance of breastfeeding in preventing other diseases and conditions in children.
“We know that children are at relatively low risk of Covid-19, but are at high risk of numerous other diseases and conditions that breastfeeding prevents,” he said.
Senior advisor Anshu Banerjee stated that only fragments of the virus had been detected in breast milk, not live virus.
“So far we have not been able to detect live virus in breast milk, so the risk of transmission from mother to child has not been established,” he said.
Several studies have been conducted on breastfeeding and Covid-19, with no evidence of coronavirus in human milk.
One study published on the journal medRxiv detected CoV-2 ribonucleic acid (RNA) in milk samples, but not the live virus.
Experts agree that more research is needed to understand the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in breast milk.
The WHO advised mothers to continue breastfeeding while following guidelines to avoid contracting the disease and passing it on to newborns.
These measures include wearing a mask, washing hands, and disinfecting surfaces that come into contact with the infant.
Mothers who are too sick to breastfeed are advised to pump breast milk and feed the infants from clean bottles.
