Airborne Transmission of Coronavirus Confirmed
A coordinated research by a group of experts from Hyderabad, CSIR-CCMB & Chandigarh, CSIR-IMTech and hospitals located in Hyderabad and Mohali, has confirmed the airborne transmission of coronavirus.
Their case study has now taken place in the Journal of Aerosol Science. However, the exact process of transmission of coronavirus is still evasive. Earlier experts thought that viruses spread through surfaces, as countries where people were following proper guidelines to wear masks all the time have seen less severity.
Samples Collected By Scientists
Scientists studied the new air transmission of coronavirus by collecting the samples from several areas where the COVID-19 patients were quarantined. These places include hospitals, contaminated zones, sealed rooms where patients were only allowed, and the houses of quarantined patients.
The results showed us that the virus was detected immediately in the air particles around the patients. The positivity rate was directly proportional to the number of patients on-premises. The virus was detected in ICU wings as well as Non-ICU wings in the hospitals.
These results proved that the patients can spread the virus irrespective of their severity of infection. Studies enlighten us that the airborne Coronavirus is capable of infecting living cells, they live for a long time while being airborne while travelling long-distance range. It makes complete sense to make masks mandatory to prevent transmissions.
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As Per The Experts
A scientist Dr Shivranjani Moharir who was part of the research team said, “Our results show that coronavirus can stay in the air for some time in absence of ventilation in closed spaces. We find that the positivity rate of finding the virus in the air was 75 per cent when two or more Covid-19 patients were present in a room, in contrast to 15.8 per cent when one or no Covid-19 patients occupied the room in these studies.”
He further added, “Our observations are concurrent with previous studies that suggest that the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA is higher in indoor air as compared to outdoor air; and in indoor, it is higher in hospital and healthcare settings that host a larger number of Covid-19 patients, as compared to that in community indoor settings.”
Dr Rakesh Mishra, Lead Scientist, Professor at the CCMB, and Director at Tata Institute for Genetics and Society said, “As we are back to conducting in-person activities, air surveillance is a useful means to predict infection potential of spaces like classrooms, meeting halls. This can help refine strategies to control the spread of infections.”
