Coronavirus going airborne? WHO acknowledges 'emerging evidence' from 239 scientists in 32 countries

Coronavirus going airborne? WHO acknowledges 'emerging evidence' from 239 scientists in 32 countries

In a mildly alarming update, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday acknowledged that there is "evidence emerging" which shows that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus might be spreading 'airborne', leading to a whole new timorous dimension to the raging coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak.

Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on the COVID-19 pandemic at WHO, told a news briefing on Tuesday, "We have been talking about the possibility of the airborne transmission and aerosol transmission as sone of the modes of transmission of COVID-19."

Notably, WHO had earlier confidently claimed that the coronavirus does not spread airborne, although it had admitted on several counts that there has been a reported possibility of aerosol transmission in a relatively closed environment with prolonged exposure like ICUs-CCUs in hospitals, however more tepid data analysis is needed to understand this.

"Based on the information received so far and on our experience with other coronaviruses, COVID-19 appears to mostly spread through respiratory droplets (for instance when a sick person coughs) and close contact. This is why the WHO recommends hands and respiratory hygiene," Dr. Poonam Khetarpal Singh, Regional Director of WHO Southeast Asia, had said earlier.

However, on Tuesday, a group of 239 scientists in 32 countries had penned an open letter to the Geneva-based agency, outlining evidence that they say shos floating virus particles can infect people who breathe them in.

The letter was published on Monday in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal. In the letter, the scientists had also urged WHO to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease passes between people, in light of the newly emerging evidence.

Following this, WHO acknowledged the fact and said, at a press conference, that they must be "open to this evidence."

"We acknowledge that there is emerging evidence in this field, as in all other fields regarding the COVID-19 virus and pandemic," Benedetta Allegranzi, WHO's technical lead for infection prevention and control, said.

WHO's present guidance says the virus is primarily spread by large airborne droplets that are emitted through coughs and sneezes and quickly fall to the ground after being discharged. But the researchers from 32 countries said that smaller respiratory particles can linger in the air and infect people.

The United Nations' specialized agency, responsible for international public health, said that they will soon publish a scientific briefing summarising the state of knowledge on modes of transmission of the virus in the coming days.