WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) - A quiet revolution has permeated global health circles. The authorities have come to accept what many researchers have argued for over a year: The coronavirus can spread through the air.
That new acceptance, by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, comes with concrete implications: Scientists are calling for ventilation systems to be overhauled like public water supplies were in the 1800s after fetid pipes were found to harbour cholera.
Cleaner indoor air will not just fight the pandemic, it will minimise the risk of catching flu and other respiratory infections that cost the US more than US$50 billion (S$66.63 billion) a year, researchers said in a study in the journal Science on Friday (May 14).