Following the discovery of a study that the novel coronavirus can go airborne, the World Health Organization is considering “airborne precautions” for medical staff.
A statement by the apex health body revealed that the coronavirus can go airborne, staying suspended in the air depending on factors such as heat and humidity, CNBC reports.
The virus is transmitted through droplets, or little bits of liquid, mostly through sneezing or coughing, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, told reporters during a virtual news conference on Monday.
“When you do an aerosol-generating procedure like in a medical care facility, you have the possibility to what we call aerosolize these particles, which means they can stay in the air a little bit longer.”
She added: “It’s very important that health-care workers take additional precautions when they’re working on patients and doing those procedures.”
World health officials say the respiratory disease spreads through human-to-human contact, droplets carried through sneezing and coughing as well as germs left on inanimate objects.
The coronavirus can go airborne, staying suspended in the air depending on factors such as heat and humidity, they said.
Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that there’s been a rapid escalation of COVID-19 cases over the past week, adding, “we have not seen an urgent enough escalation in testing, isolation and contact tracing, which is the backbone of the response.”
“We have a simple message for all countries: test, test, test. Test every suspected case, if they test positive, isolate them and find out who they have been in contact with two days before they developed symptoms and test those people, too,” Tedros said.
