Coronavirus: Nick Coatsworth says COVID spreads through contact – NEWS.com.au

Australias deputy chief medical officer has tempered concerns raised by international scientists that COVID-19 could be spreading through saliva particles lingering in the air.Dr Nick Coatsworth addressed a letter signed by a group of 239 scientists from more than 30 countries urging the World Health Organisation to more seriously consider “emerging evidence” the virus was being spread through aerosolised particles.
It has been a topic of debate in medical circles for months, but Dr Coatsworth said during Australia’s daily coronavirus update on Thursday the “overwhelming weight of evidence” still pointed to contact and droplets being the main way it was spread.
The infectious disease expert used the example of known airborne viruses such as measles and chickenpox, which he said were highly contagious and could travel five metres through the air to new hosts.
He said the basic reproduction number for COVID-19 – each patient is believed to infect 2.5 people – was “much less”.
“The overwhelming body of evidence suggests that the primary mode of COVID-19 getting from one person to another is larger droplets,” he said.
“Droplets that either fall onto people’s hands, and then you put your hands on your face, so that is direct contact with an affected individual who is very close, or alternatively, large droplets land on surfaces, sometimes on kids’ toys or things like that — we call them foamites — then people touch those surfaces and touch their mouths, and that is how the droplets get in.
“That is not to say we will ignore emerging evidence; we certainly won‘t. Our infection control expert group constantly look at the evidence.
“And if evidence emerges that this is more of a problem than we suspect, we will naturally change our position.”
The letter cites a Chinese case study of video records where the virus was transmitted between three parties in a restaurant without any evidence of “direct or indirect contact”.
It also point out that particles from viruses of the same family, such as Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), can be exhaled and detected in indoor environments of infected patients.
There were 182 new cases of coronavirus diagnosed in Australia in the 24 hours to noon today, with 165 of those in Victoria, 30 in NSW, three in Western Australia and one in the ACT.
Dr Coatsworth recommended the use of masks for those living in Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire, but not in other parts of the country, due to the high rate of community infections.
“This means if you have to leave your home for any of those reasons for which it is permissible, and you are likely to find yourself in a situation where you cannot maintain 1.5m distance, it is advisable to be covering your face with a mask,” he said.
“That of course does not change our advice on social distancing.”

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