New Delhi, Apr 16: There is consistent, strong evidence to prove that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, behind the COVID-19 pandemic, is predominantly transmitted through the air, according to a new assessment published on Friday in The Lancet journal.
The analysis by six experts from the UK, the US and Canada says public health measures that fail to treat the virus as predominantly airborne leave people unprotected and allow the virus to spread.
Although some studies in the past have suggested that COVID-19 may spread through air, overall scientific literature on the subject has been inconclusive.
In July last year, over 200 scientists from 32 nations wrote to the WHO, saying there is evidence that the coronavirus is airborne, and even smaller particles can infect people.
"The evidence supporting airborne transmission is overwhelming, and evidence supporting large droplet transmission is almost non-existent," said Jose-Luis Jimenez, from the University of Colorado Boulder in the US.
"It is urgent that the World Health Organization and other public health agencies adapt their description of transmission to the scientific evidence so that the focus of mitigation is put on reducing airborne transmission," Jimenez said.
The team, led by researchers at the University of Oxford in the UK, reviewed published research and identified 10 lines of evidence to support the predominance of the airborne route.
The researchers highlighted the super-spreader events such as last year's Skagit Choir outbreak in the US, in which 53 people became infected from a single infected case.
Studies have confirmed these events cannot be adequately explained by close contact or touching shared surfaces or objects, the researchers said in their assesment.
They noted that transmission rates of SARS-CoV-2 are much higher indoors than outdoors, and transmission is greatly reduced by indoor ventilation.
The team cited previous studies estimating that silent -- asymptomatic or presymptomatic -- transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from people who are not coughing or sneezing accounts for at least 40 per cent of all transmission.
This silent transmission is a key way COVID-19 has spread around the world, "supporting a predominantly airborne mode of transmission," according to the assessment.
The researchers also highlighted work demonstrating long-range transmission of the virus between people in adjacent rooms in hotels, who were never in each other's presence.
On the contrary, the team found little to no evidence that the virus spreads easily via large droplets, which fall quickly through the air and contaminate surfaces.
"We were able to identify and interpret highly complex and specialist papers on the dynamics of fluid flows and the isolation of live virus," said study lead author Trish Greenhalgh.
"While some individual papers were assessed as weak, overall the evidence base for airborne transmission is extensive and robust," Greenhalgh added.
He noted that there should be no further delay in implementing measures around the world to protect against such transmission.
The assessment has serious implications for public health measures designed to mitigate the pandemic, the researchers said.
They said "droplet measures" such as handwashing and surface cleaning, while important, should be given less emphasis than airborne measures, which deal with inhalation of infectious particles suspended in the air.
According to the researchers, if an infectious virus is primarily airborne, someone can potentially be infected when they inhale aerosols produced when an infected person exhales, speaks, shouts, sings, or sneezes.
They noted that some airborne control measures include ventilation, air filtration, reducing crowding and the amount of time people spend indoors.
Wearing masks whenever indoors, attention to mask quality and fit, and higher-grade PPE for healthcare and other staff when working in contact with potentially infectious people are some of the other control measures, according to the researchers.
"It is quite surprising that anyone is still questioning whether airborne transmission is the predominant transmission pathway for this virus or not," said study co-author Professor Kimberly Prather, from the University of California San Diego, US.
"Only by including inhalation of aerosols at both close and long range can we explain the many indoor outbreaks that have occurred around the globe. Once we acknowledge this virus is airborne, we know how to fix it, Prather said.
The researchers added that there are many examples of places that have fared much better by acknowledging this virus is airborne from the start, adding the world needs to follow their lead as soon as possible.
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Lucknow (PTI): Denied a ticket from Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat, BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Thursday wrote an emotional letter to the people of his constituency in which he asserted that his relationship with them will remain intact till his last breath.
Sharing the letter on X, he said, his relationship with Pilibhit is one of love and trust which is far above any political calculations.
The BJP has fielded Uttar Pradesh Public Works Minister Jitin Prasada from Pilibhit replacing Gandhi, who has been vocal against his own government several times on the issue of inflation and unemployment.
Prasada had filed his nominations on this seat on Wednesday.
Recounting his association with the constituency, he said "Today, when I am writing this letter, countless memories have made me emotional. I remember that little three-year-old child who came to Pilibhit for the first time in 1983 holding the fingers of his mother. Little did he know that one day this land would become his work place and the people here would become his family".
"The ideals given by Pilibhit were instrumental in my upbringing and development not only as an MP but also as a person. Being your representative has been the greatest honour of my life and I have always raised my voice for your interests to the best of my ability," he said.
Varun Gandhi said his tenure as an MP may be coming to an end, but his relationship with Pilibhit can't end till his last breath.
"If not as an MP, then at least as a son, I am committed to serve you throughout my life and my doors will always remain open for you as before. I came into politics to raise the voice of the common man and today I seek your blessings to continue doing this work always. Even if I have to pay any cost for this," he added.
This is for the first time in over three decades that the mother-son duo of Maneka and Varun Gandhi will not be in the fray from the Pilibhit constituency which is located in the Terai belt bordering Nepal.
The denial of ticket to Varun Gandhi this time did not come as a surprise as he has been criticising the BJP on the issues of farmers, health and jobs.
After he was replaced by Prasada, reports did the rounds that Varun Gandhi might contest from the seat as an independent candidate. The suspense ended on Wednesday when he did not turn up before the nominations ended.
His mother Maneka Gandhi, the sitting MP from Sultanpur, was, however, given another chance from the same seat by the BJP.
The Pilibhit seat has remained with Maneka Gandhi or her son Varun Gandhi since 1996.
Maneka Gandhi won the seat on a Janata Dal ticket in 1989, lost in 1991 and won again in 1996. She won from the constituency in 1998 and 1999 as an Independent candidate. She won the seat in 2004 and 2014 as a BJP candidate.
Varun Gandhi won the seat in 2009 and 2019 as a BJP candidate.
प्रणाम पीलीभीत 🙏 pic.twitter.com/D6T3uDUU6o
— Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) March 28, 2024