WHO admits "emerging evidence" of airborne transmission of coronavirus

PanARMENIAN.Net - The World Health Organization has confirmed there is “emerging evidence” of airborne transmission of the coronavirus, CNN reports.

It comes after 239 scientists published a letter urging the agency to be more forthcoming about the likelihood that people can catch the virus from droplets floating in the air.

“We acknowledge that there is emerging evidence in this field, as in all other fields regarding the Covid-19 virus and pandemic and therefore we believe that we have to be open to this evidence and understand its implications regarding the modes of transmission and also regarding the precautions that need to be taken,” said Dr. Benedetta Alleganzi, WHO Technical Lead for Infection Prevention and Control, during a briefing on Tuesday, July 7.

Infectious disease epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkove, with WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said many of the letter’s signatories are engineers, “which adds to growing knowledge about the importance of ventilation."

She said the WHO is working on a scientific brief summarizing the current knowledge around transmission of the coronavirus, which should be available in the coming weeks.