As per an expert, the latest finding could mean that the pathogen can be ‘at least temporarily’ in the air and does not mean it is flying all over and will infect everyone.

A state of panic has overtaken people after the World Health Organization, earlier this week, was approached with a group of scientists with their finding, supporting the possibility of Covid-19 virus to be airborne. However, experts at India’s CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) say there is no need to panic.

As per an expert, the latest finding could mean that the pathogen can be ‘at least temporarily’ in the air and does not mean it is flying all over and will infect everyone.

“Those are good studies. Based on that, what is being communicated to WHO is that the virus can be at least temporarily airborne, which means it can travel in droplets of smaller size less than five micron which will mean that it will be hanging in the air for longer than bigger droplet which settles down in a few minutes,” director of the CSIR-CCMB, Rakesh Mishra, told news agency PTI.

Mishra calls for people to continue to take the same precautions and avoid close contact with people and large gatherings. The scientist said social distancing should be maintained at all cost and people must avoid rooms where multiple people are present, particularly those lacking aeration such as AC rooms.

He added that very little is known about the virus and it would be too early to say that enough had been known about it.

Over 230 scientists from 32 nations have written to the WHO, saying there is evidence that coronavirus is airborne and even smaller particles can infect people, a report in the New York Times stated. The global health body has long maintained that Covid-19 primarily spreads through coughs and sneezes and is not airborne. The virus has infected over 11 million across the globe while more than 5 lakh people have lost their lives to the deadly contagion worldwide.