Beware, even kites can serve as a COVID-19 transmission medium

Dr. Naresh Jakhotia, senior physician at the Bhagwan Mahaveer Cancer Hospital and Research Center in Jaipur, explained that a COVID-19 infected person can spread the disease if the kite flown by him is picked up by another healthy person. Merely touching the kite or its string is enough to contract the disease, he said.

Jaipur (Rajasthan): With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to wreak havoc across the world, an expert warned that kites, popular in India, can too serve as a medium to spread the infection.

Dr. Naresh Jakhotia, senior physician at the Bhagwan Mahaveer Cancer Hospital and Research Center in Jaipur, explained that kites can be a transmission medium for the coronavirus.

If an infected person flies a kite, it can get cut and drift away to another healthy person. The healthy person who picks the kite up is in risk of contracting the disease, Jakhotia said. Merely touching the kite or its string is enough, he added.

Jakhotia further explained that the virus can remain active for upto four hours on a paper kite, and for 8-10 hours on the thread. At the same time, the virus can remain active for as many as three days on plastic kites.

Authorities in Bikaner have issued orders to ban the manufacture, sale, and flying of kites in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Pertinently, Bikaner is known for its tradition of kite-flying on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, which is due on April 26 this year.

With regard to the above, Jaipur District Collector Dr. Joga Ram said that the onus of banning kite-flying in the city rests with the police commissionerate.