COVID-19

WHO Admits COVID-19 Could Be Spread In Air

After months of denials, the World Health Organization has now admitted that there is growing evidence that the coronavirus could be spread by way of tiny particles in the air.

A possibility long speculated on, online reports are now starting to emerge in which officials at the world health body are saying that airborne transmission of the virus cannot be ruled out in small, crowded areas, lacking proper ventilation.

If confirmed beyond doubt, guidelines on how to avoid the virus in closed spaces may be issued at both the global, and national levels.

To date the WHO has only admitted that COVID-19 could be spread by way of droplets expelled when people sneeze and / or cough despite an open letter signed by over 200 scientists accusing the WHO of denying the airborne transmission possibility.

Speaking to media in response to the mounting evidence, the WHO’s technical lead for infection prevention and control, Benadetta Allegranzi has now said that transmission in “crowded, closed, poorly ventilated settings that have been described, cannot be ruled out.”

Latest figures available show that almost 12 million people worldwide have now been infected by the virus with 547,000 dying as a result.

The USA remains the worst affected country with 3.1 million cases known, leading to 134,000 deaths; a figure more than double the death toll of the second worst affected nation, Brazil.

Mark Buckton

Mark is a journalism vet of 20 years with most of those years spent in Tokyo, Japan, as a columnist for The Japan Times and numerous other publications. His work has appeared on CNN, in the BBC, NPR, and in several dozen other media forms and publications across five continents.