Asymptomatic carriers or people with a mild infection of COVID-19 should not be quarantined at home as this can cause further spread of the virus, a leading health expert said on Sunday.

"The Omicron strain of the COVID-19 virus has high transmissibility and might cause more family members to be infected if asymptomatic carriers or people with a mild infection stay at home, which will lead to the delay of dynamic zero-COVID," said Liang Wannian, head of the National Health Commission's COVID-19 leading task force, news portal The-paper.cn reported.

"People who are infected should be placed under centralized isolation, as home quarantine does not have the isolation conditions required (to prevent the virus' spread)," Liang said.

People who are infected could lose the opportunity of receiving timely treatment as their disease progression cannot be monitored as closely if they are quarantined at home, he added.

Liang also said although Omicron is transmitted mainly through the respiratory tract, a number of studies have suggested it can also be transmitted through direct contact. There is evidence it can spread through ventilation systems such as sewers in households.