SRINAGAR: The face mask and frequent cleaning of hands with soap is emerging as the safest defence against Covid-19 infections as hundreds of scientists have established the virus is airborne.

Working in small Self Help Groups (SHG), these women have halted their regular works to produce face masks. KL Image: Special arrangement

The New York Times reported that hundreds of scientists have established that novel Coronavirus exists in smaller particles in the air and can infect people. They have asked the World Health Organisation to revise recommendations.

The established science believed that the Coronavirus spreads from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth, and physical contact, especially during speaking and sneezing.

However, 239 scientists from 23 countries have written an open letter to the WHO outlining the evidence they have gathered insisting it exists in the air and 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 the air and can infect people when inhaled, the scientists said,” the report said.

The WHO, the report added, has said the “evidence for the virus being airborne was not convincing”.

“Especially in the last couple of months, we have been stating several times that we consider airborne transmission as possible but certainly not supported by solid or even clear evidence,” Dr Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO’s technical lead of infection prevention and control, was quoted saying.

Whether or not the sub-microscopic virus is airborne or not, the only safest way-out is to make facemask mandatory. Officials must ensure its implementation and people must voluntarily do it.

Jammu and Kashmir has already lost 136 people to Covid-19 and the numbers are increasing on a daily basis. Barring one, almost all districts across Kashmir are red zones.

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