COVID-19 primarily transmitted through respiratory droplets says WHO

New Delhi, Apr 04: The virus that causes Covid-19 is primarily transmitted through "respiratory droplets and close contact", and does not seem to stay long in the air, a recent WHO publication said.

Respiratory infections can be transmitted through droplets of different sizes, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

Droplet transmission occurs when you have close contact (within one metre) with a person who has respiratory symptoms such as coughing or sneezing, which may spread these potentially infectious droplets, typically 5-10 microns in size, to your body.

Transmission may also occur by touching surfaces or objects in the immediate environment around the infected person, state-run China Daily quoted the WHO publication as saying.

Airborne transmission is different from droplet transmission, as it refers to the presence of microbes within droplet nuclei, which are generally considered to be the smaller particles of less than 5 microns in diameter, and which can remain in the air for long periods of time and be transmitted to others over distances greater than one metre, it said.

According to the publication, no cases of transmission by air were reported in an analysis of 75,465 coronavirus patients in China.