WHO downplaying risk of airborne spread of COVID-19, scientists says

Hundreds of scientists are convinced that the novel coronavirus in smaller particles in the air can infect people. Hence the scientists are asking the World Health Organisation to revise recommendations.

WHO has said that the coronavirus disease spreads primarily from person to person through droplets from the nose or mouth, which are expelled when a person with covid-19 coughs, sneezes or speaks.

In an open letter to the agency, which the researchers plan to publish in a scientific journal next week, 239 scientists in 32 countries supported the evidence showing smaller particles can infect people. Whether carried by large droplets that zoom through the air after a sneeze, or by much smaller exhaled droplets that may glide the length of a room, the coronavirus is borne through air and can infect people when inhaled, the scientists said.

However, WHO officials said the evidence for the virus being airborne was not convincing as it was not supported solid evidence.