More than 230 international scientists alerted in a letter, Monday, July 6, on "aerial transmission of Covid-19", the suspension of viral particles in the air, and not only by the projection of droplets (by coughing, sneezing and speaking) on ​​the faces of others or on surfaces.  

Their letter is directly aimed at the World Health Organization, already criticized for having delayed recommending the masks, and here accused of refusing to see the accumulation of evidence of airborne spread of the virus.

"We call on the medical community and the competent national and international organizations to recognize the potential of aerial transmission of Covid-19", write in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases of Oxford two scientists, Lidia Morawska of the University of Queensland (Australia) and Donald Milton of the University of Maryland, in an article signed by 237 other experts.

Better ventilate rooms

"There is a significant potential for the risk of inhalation of viruses contained in microscopic respiratory droplets (microdroplets) at short and medium distances (up to several meters, on the order of the scale of a room), and we advocate the use of preventive measures to prevent this route of airborne transmission, "they continue.

There is no scientific consensus that this airway plays a role in contagions, but Julian Tang, one of the signatories, from the University of Leicester, replies that the WHO has not proved the opposite : "The absence of proof is not proof of absence."

At the time of deconfinement, it is urgent, experts argue, to better ventilate workplaces, schools, hospitals and retirement homes, and to install infection control tools such as sophisticated air filters and special ultraviolet rays that kill microbes in the air ducts.

Concern in the United States

The new coronavirus has killed at least 536,138 people worldwide since late December, according to a report by AFP on Monday. There was still concern Monday in the United States, where the 130,000 dead mark of the Covid-19 has been exceeded and where contamination records (nearly 55,000 in one day Monday) continue to be broken. "We reopened far too early in Arizona," said Phoenix mayor Kate Gallego.

President Donald Trump continues, however, to say that the crisis is "about to end", drawing the ire among others of the Democratic mayor of Austin, in Texas, Steve Adler, who qualified his remarks as "dangerous" for the inhabitants of his city, whose resuscitation services risk being overwhelmed "within ten days".

The trend also remains worrying in several Latin American countries. Chile has crossed the threshold of 10,000 dead and Colombia the threshold of 4,000 dead. Brazil recorded 620 additional deaths in 24 hours Sunday. However, Sao Paulo reopens its bars and restaurants, and wearing a mask is no longer compulsory in overcrowded prisons.

Local restrictions in Europe

Faced with an outbreak of infections in the city of Melbourne, Australia decided to isolate the State of Victoria from the rest of the country. And the reconfiguration is in place from Monday in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, two months after the lifting of the restrictions. 

Europe, where the evolution of the pandemic seems under control, is nevertheless worried about a resurgence of cases, leading to the implementation of new local restrictions, as in Spain.

In Indonesia, the country in Southeast Asia which has the heaviest toll (65,000 people infected and 3,241 dead), the island of Bali wants to reopen in September to international tourists.

Another country dependent on tourism, Kenya will resume its international and national flights on August 1.

Greece, which had received some 3.5 million British tourists in 2019, announced Monday the return of direct flights from the United Kingdom on July 15 despite criticism, the country of Boris Johnson suffering the heaviest record in Europe and the 3rd worldwide. 

With AFP

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