Geneva, Jul 8 (UNI) World Health Organization has, for the first time since Covid-19 outbreak, acknowledged the theory of airborne transmission of the virus and said that it will soon come out with a revised scientific brief.
Responding to a query regarding a report in New York Times during regular media briefing of Covid-19 on Tuesday, WHO expert Dr. Benedetta Allegranzi said "We acknowledge that there is emerging evidence in this field, as in all other fields regarding Covid-19 virus and pandemic. We believe that we have to be open to this evidence and understand its implications regarding the modes of transmission and also regarding the precautions that need to be taken."
Quoting 239 scientists New York Times had highlighted the possibility of airborne transmission of the virus. This theory first appeared in April this year, but WHO has so far been reluctant to acknowledge it.
"We have been talking about the possibility of airborne transmission and aerosol transmission as one of the transmission mode of Covid-19, as well as droplets. We are producing a scientific brief and summarizing where we are. We have been working on this for several weeks now," said Dr Maria Van Kerkhov, Covid-19 expert at WHO.
The UN health body is also sending its team of experts to China this weekend to trace the origin of virus. "All preparations have been finalized and WHO experts will be traveling to China this weekend to prepare scientific plans with their Chinese counterparts for identifying the zoonotic source of the disease," said WHO Director General Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus.
The experts will develop the scope and terms of reference for a WHO-led international mission. The mission objective is to advance the understanding of animal hosts for COVID-19 and ascertain how the disease jumped between animals and humans, Dr. Tedros added.
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