Hyderabad: The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 may spread through the air in tiny particles that infected people exhale during normal breathing- not just via the large droplets emitted in a cough or sneeze.
Though current studies aren't conclusive, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has neither denied it too.
Until now, experts have said that the virus, called SARS-CoV-2, doesn’t spread through the air in that way, but rather through relatively large droplets released when people cough or sneeze. Those droplets can contaminate surfaces or objects and infect people who touch the surface and then touch their faces.
Wearing surgical masks can cut down on the amount of virus that infected people spread, the NSA panel says, citing an unpublished study from the University of Hong Kong.
They collected respiratory droplets and aerosols from patients with respiratory illnesses caused by viruses; some of the patients wore surgical facemasks.
Read: 4 out of 5 COVID-19 cases are asymptomatic in nature: Report
The masks reduced the detection of coronavirus RNA in both respiratory droplets and aerosols, but only in respiratory droplets among influenza sufferers.
“Our results provide mechanistic evidence that surgical facemasks could prevent transmission of human coronavirus and influenza virus infections if worn by symptomatic individuals,” the researchers conclude.
The report also says that genetic material from the virus was detected more than two meters (six feet) away from patients' hospital beds. That finding could indicate that physical distancing by at least two meters may not be enough to limit the spread of the virus. Whether infectious virus could be carried that far or if the genetic material is from dead viruses isn’t yet known.
It is to be noted that as of April 2, more than 1 million people worldwide are confirmed to have COVID-19, with nearly a quarter of those cases in the United States and more than 50,000 people have died worldwide.
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