Coronavirus: WHO acknowledges evidence of airborne spread of Covid-19
- Comments follow open letter from 239 scientists saying disease can be transmitted via floating particles and urging UN health body to update its guidance
- WHO to publish scientific brief summarising the state of knowledge on modes of transmission of virus in coming days
The World Health Organisation on Tuesday acknowledged “evidence emerging” of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus, after a group of scientists urged the global body to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease passes between people.
“We 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, the WHO’s technical lead on the pandemic, told a news briefing.
The WHO has previously said 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 to the Geneva-based agency, published on Monday 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.
Because those smaller exhaled particles can linger in the air, the scientists in the group had been urging WHO to update its guidance.