India, Aug. 4 -- The risk of COVID-19 infection from breastfeeding is negligible and has never been documented, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, in a call for greater support for the practice.
The appeal, during World Breastfeeding Week, comes as WHO warned that not using mother's milk is linked to 820,000 child deaths a year, which is estimted to cost $300 billion to the global economy.
"WHO has been very clear in its recommendations to say absolutely breastfeeding should continue," said Dr. Laurence Grummer-Strawn, head of the World Health Organization's Food and Nutrition Action in Health Systems unit. "We have never documented, anywhere around the world, any (Covid-19) transmission through breastmilk."
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