According to reports, a group of 239 scientists representing 32 countries is preparing to ask the World Health Organization (WHO) to review its recommendations for the new coronavirus due to the evidence it says supports the claim that the disease is transmitted through the air.
Scientists are expected to publish an open letter making the request in a scientific journal next week, according to The New York Times. The letter is designed to offer evidence to support the position that smaller coronavirus particles can travel through the air and infect people.
The WHO argued that COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, is transmitted mainly by large respiratory drops that fall to the floor after being discharged by a sneeze or cough. The agency has said that the virus is transmitted primarily through person-to-person contact and indirect contact with surfaces in the immediate environment of an infected person.
A segment of the scientific community says evidence shows that the virus is airborne and can infect people when inhaled, the Times reported, noting that small particles can travel quickly after a sneeze. Some ejected virus droplets can travel more gradually across a room, say some scientists.
Airborne transmission would become an important factor in response efforts. Masks would possibly be necessary in all interior settings, regardless of whether social distancing was maintained. Health workers are also likely to require N95 masks that can filter out tiny particles of coronavirus.
Benedetta Allegranzi, the technical leader in infection control for the WHO, told the Times that there is still a lack of solid evidence about airborne transmission.
“Especially in the past few months, we have been asserting several times that we believe airborne transmission is possible, but it certainly is not supported by solid or even clear evidence,” he said. “There is a strong debate about this.”
The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for further comment from The Hill.
The letter is expected to arrive when parts of the world, including the U.S., experience an increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations stemming from the disease. The WHO reported more than 200,000 cases of the virus on Saturday, marking a new peak in infections over a 24-hour period.
As of Sunday, health officials had reported more than 11 million cases of COVID-19 and approximately 530,000 deaths from it worldwide, according to a Johns Hopkins University database.
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