Holding the Breath, Low Breathing Rate May Up Risk of Covid-19, Says IIT Study FOLLOW US ON: New Delhi: Holding the breath and having low breathing rate can increase the chances of the novel coronavirus-laden droplets being deposited deep in the lungs, according to a study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Physics of Fluids, paves the way for developing better therapies and drugs for respiratory infections, including coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). The researchers noted that several infectious respiratory diseases like COVID-19, that threaten the human lives globally, transmit primarily through virus laden droplets. Dramatic respiratory events such as coughs and sneezes that yield a large quantity of droplets play a vital role in aiding such transmission, they said.