"Evidence emerging" of airborne spread of COVID-19, admits WHO

Guwahati: After a team of scientists urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to revise its guidelines on how to deal with the COVID-19, the body acknowledged "evidence emerging" of the airborne spread of the virus.

Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead on the COVID-19 pandemic said that the WHO has been talking about the possibility of airborne transmission and aerosol transmission as one of the modes of transmission of the viral disease, adding that the WHO would publish a scientific brief summarising the state of knowledge on modes of transmission of the virus.

The international body had previously maintained that the disease spreads primarily through small droplets expelled from the nose and mouth of an infected person that sink to the ground.

Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO's technical lead for infection prevention and control, said that evidence is emerging, it is not "definitive." She said that the possibility of airborne transmission in public settings - especially in very specific conditions, crowded, closed, poorly ventilated settings that have been described, cannot be ruled out further adding that evidence needs to be gathered and interpreted.

The WHO's current advice on keeping 1-metre (3.3 feet) of physical distancing. could potentially be impacted by this development and Governments might also have to revise their guidelines. 

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