The World Health Organization should not be ignoring the fact that the novel coronavirus could also be airborne, a group of scientists warned on Sunday.
For most who contract SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that is the source of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease causes mild flu-like symptoms that pass without special medical care. But others can develop serious respiratory conditions that could prove fatal.
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So far, 11,563,642 people worldwide have been infected with the virus, which has killed 536,880. Some 6,538,541 people have recovered from it. Israel has recorded 29,958 COVID-19 cases and 331 deaths. Some 17,950 Israelis have recovered from the disease.
Sunday saw 239 scientists from 32 countries call on the WHO to acknowledge the airborne spread of COVID-19 "and the need for governments to implement control measures."
WHO guidelines say that the virus is transmitted primarily between people through respiratory droplets and contact. However, in an open letter to the UN health agency due to be published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, the group says that there is clear evidence that suggests that airborne transmission could be more important than the WHO has led the public to believe.
Members of the WHO's infection prevention committee maintain that "while aerosol transmission may play some role, there is overwhelming evidence that the primary routes of transmission are through direct contact and respiratory droplets expelled during coughing, sneezing, or speech."
According to The Guardian, the WHO said that introducing new measures to guard against aerosol transmission was unfeasible and unlikely to make much difference to the contagion's spread.
The WHO said that certain medical procedures, such as intubation, are known to raise the risk of aerosol transmission, but that outside of this context the evidence is less clear.
"This is an area of active research," the agency said.
If airborne transmission were shown to be a major factor in the way the virus spreads, some experts have suggested it could be helpful to wear masks indoors, even when maintaining social distancing, and that tighter regulations may be needed for ventilation and air conditioning to minimize recirculating air.
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