COVID-19 Update: SARS-CoV-2 is predominantly airborne, says new Lancet study

There is consistent, strong evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is predominantly transmitted through the air, a new study published in The Lancet journal April 15, 2021 has said.

Therefore, public health measures that fail to treat the virus as predominantly airborne leave people unprotected and allow the virus to spread, according to the six experts who authored the study.

The experts identified 10 lines of evidence to show that the airborne theory was true.

“The evidence supporting airborne transmission is overwhelming, and evidence supporting large droplet transmission is almost non-existent,” Jose-Luis Jimenez, a chemist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and the University of Colorado Boulder, was quoted as saying.

Here are some of the other important COVID-19 news stories:

• The Bihar government April 15 decided to divert all oxygen reaching the state for industrial use to meet the demand of COVID-19 patients in hospitals, The Hindustan Times reported.
• The Niranjani Akhada, one of the main religious sects that have taken part in the Kumbh Mela, has decided to withdraw from it given the rising number of COVID-19 cases among the seers and other in Haridwar, The New Indian Express reported.
• The department of science and technology, Government of India, has granted approval to Mumbai’s Haffkine Institute to produce Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin vaccine on a transfer of technology basis, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s Office tweeted April 16. Covaxin is currently being produced by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech Intl Ltd.
• Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa tweeted April 16 that he had tested positive again for the novel coronavirus and had been hospitalised. Yeddiyurappa was earlier hospitalised August 2, 2020 after he tested positive for coronavirus.
• Some 3,560 Brazilians died from COVID-19 April 15, raising its pandemic death toll to 365,444, Xinhua reported. There were also 73,174 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total infections to 13,746,681.
• World Health Organization Director for Europe Hans Kluge told media April 16 that Europe had surpassed 1 million deaths from COVID-19, the Associated Press reported. 
• Some 14,291,917 people have been infected from COVID-19 in India till now, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s figures as on 8 am, April 16, 2021. Of these, 1,569,743 are active cases. There have been 174,308 deaths.
• 11,72,23,509 people have been vaccinated till now, according to the ministry.
• Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest spike in the number of new COVID-19 cases at 18,013 April 16, the ministry said. It was followed by Karnataka with 11,081 new cases.

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