Beware If You Are Working In Poorly Ventilated or Crowded Indoors: Airborne Possibility Included in WHO’s Updated Guidelines

Bhubaneswar: In an important development with regard to the Covid-19 Pandemic the world is facing today, the World Health Organisation has issued updated guidelines which indicate the possibility of airborne transmission of Covid-19 in a non-ventilated or indoor setting. 

While new strains of the dangerous Covid-19 virus are being detected each and every day, the new guidelines have increased the gravity of the situation. With this the debate associated with the means of transmission has also got accelerated. The airborne transmission issue was highlighted when a group of scientists came out with a hypothesis in The Lancet Journal in April this year claiming “10 streams of evidence” to argue that the Corona Virus infection was airborne. Earlier an MIT study in the US had also said that the rule of six-foot social distancing might not be valid any longer because of its airborne nature.

With many health experts and research organizations identifying the airborne quality of the Covid virus, the WHO also updated its guidelines in its scientific brief on April 30. The WHO now includes the possibility of airborne transmission of Covid-19 in an indoor or non-ventilated setting. It says that “Current evidence suggests that the virus spreads mainly between people who are in close contact with each other, typically within 1 metre (short-range). A person can be infected when aerosols or droplets containing the virus are inhaled or come directly into contact with the eyes, nose, or mouth.”

It also says that “The virus can also spread in poorly ventilated and/or crowded indoor settings, where people tend to spend longer periods of time. This is because aerosols remain suspended in the air or travel farther than 1 meter (long-range). With this the WHO acknowledges the long-range travel of aerosolised Corona Virus. Earlier, it was thought that the Corona Virus does not travel beyond six feet from an infected person.
Hence, the environments such as auditoriums, cinema halls or big dining halls can help the virus to ride on air currents for longer distances. It may be a cause behind detection of a series of infections in housing societies, hostels etc.