NCDC warns indoor airbone tramsmission of virus possible
NCDC warns indoor airbone tramsmission of virus possible
Abuja, July 13, 2020 – The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has admitted the possibility that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic might be spread in the air under certain conditions after about 200 scientists’ findings.
Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Directir-General, NCDC, disclosed this at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID19 briefing on Monday in Abuja, said the scientists urged the World Health Organisation (WHO) to review its guidelines.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the WHO now formally recognised that the Coronavirus could be transmitted indoors by droplets in the air.
WHO said in a scientific brief that people who spent time in crowded settings with poor ventilation ran the risk of being infected by the coronavirus as the droplets circulate throughout the air in indoor gatherings.
The admission came after a crush of criticism from experts pushing the Organisation to update its description of the virus’s spread to include the possibility of airborne infections.
WHO now acknowledges that transmissions via aerosols, or tiny air droplets, could have been behind “outbreaks of COVID-19 reported in some closed settings, such as restaurants, nightclubs, places of worship or places of work where people may be shouting, talking, or singing.”
”Besides refraining from having close contact with infected people and frequent hand-washing, the agency says people should “avoid crowded places, close-contact settings, and confined and enclosed spaces with poor ventilation.”