The World Health Organization on Tuesday acknowledged evidence emerging of the airborne spread of the COVID19 pandemic after a group of scientists urged the global body to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease passes between people.
WHO said they have been talking about the possibility of airborne transmission and aerosol transmission as one of the modes of transmission of COVID-19 Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on the COVID-19 pandemic at the WHO, told a news briefing.
The WHO has previously said that the virus that causes the COVID-19 respiratory disease spreads primarily through small droplets expelled from the nose and mouth of an infected person that quickly sink to the ground.
But in an open letter published on Monday to the Geneva-based agency, in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal, 239 scientists in 32 countries outlined evidence that they say shows floating virus particles can infect people who breathe them in.
Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO’s technical lead for infection prevention and control, Spoke at the Tuesday’s briefing in Geneva, saying that there was evidence emerging of airborne transmission of the coronavirus, but that it was not definitive.
She said
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. However, the evidence needs to be gathered and interpreted, and we continue to support this.
