Covid is airborne, scientists urge for ventilation system overhaul to combat the pandemic

PETALING JAYA (May 17): As the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have accepted the scientific findings that coronavirus can spread through the air, scientists are now calling for a ventilation system to be overhauled to fight the pandemic, reported Bloomberg.

According to a study in the journal Science on Friday, cleaner indoor air could curb the spread of coronavirus as well as reducing the risk of catching flu and other respiratory infections - which cost the US over US$50 billion (RM207 billion) a year.

By improving indoor air quality, it could avoid the germs that cause the diseases, hence, offset the cost of upgrading ventilation and filtration in buildings.

Lidia Morawska, a distinguished professor in the school of earth and atmospheric sciences at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, said indoor air should be clean, pollutant- and pathogen-free.

The study is written by 39 scientists from 14 countries. The objective of the study is to create awareness of disease prevention through improving indoor air ventilation systems.

To achieve the objective, it is important for WHO to extend the indoor air quality guideline to cover airborne pathogens and for building ventilation standards to include higher airflow, filtration and disinfection rates.

"No one takes responsibility for the air… It's kind of accepted that the air could be of whatever quality - containing viruses and pathogens," Morawska told the newswire.

Speaking, singing SARS-CoV-2 multiplies in the respiratory tract, enabling it to spread in particles of varying sizes emitted from an infected person's nose and throat during breathing, speaking, singing, coughing and sneezing.

The biggest particles, including visible spatters of spittle, fall fast, settling on the ground or nearby surfaces, whereas the tiniest - aerosols invisible to the naked eye - can be carried farther and stay aloft longer, depending on humidity, temperature and airflow.

It's these aerosol particles, which can linger for hours and travel indoors, that have stoked controversy, said the report.

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