A group of 239 scientists from 32 countries is preparing to ask the World Health Organisation (WHO) to revise its recommendations for the novel coronavirus due to evidence it says supports the claim the disease is airborne, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
The scientists are expected to publish an open letter making the request in a scientific journal later this week. The letter is set to offer evidence that supports the position that smaller particles of the coronavirus can travel through the air and infect people.
The WHO has held that COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, is transmitted mostly by large respiratory droplets that fall to floor after being discharged via a sneeze or cough.
The agency has said the virus is primarily spread through person-to-person contact and indirect contact with surfaces in the immediate environment of an infected individual.
However, the scientists said evidence shows that the virus is borne through the air and can infect individuals upon being inhaled, noting that small particles can travel quickly following a sneeze.
Exhaled droplets of the virus can travel more gradually the length of a room, some of the scientists also said.
Airborne transmission would reportedly become a significant factor for response efforts. Masks would possibly be necessary in all indoor settings, regardless of whether social distancing was maintained. Healthcare workers would also likely require N95 masks that can filter out minuscule coronavirus particles.
Benedetta Allegranzi, technical lead on infection control for the WHO, however, told the New York Times that there is still a lack of solid evidence on airborne transmission.
“Especially in the last couple of months, we have been stating several times that we consider airborne transmission as possible but certainly not supported by solid or even clear evidence,” she said. “There is a strong debate on this.”
The letter is expected to come as parts of the world, including the US, experience a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalisations stemming from the disease. The WHO reported more than 200,000 cases of the virus on Saturday, marking a new high in infections over a 24-hour period.
As of Sunday, health officials had reported more than 11 million cases of COVID-19 and roughly 530,000 deaths stemming from it worldwide, according to a Johns Hopkins University database.
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