Health authorities need to acknowledge it’s highly likely that airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is occurring, scientists say.

Aerosol expert and WHO adviser Professor Lidia Morawska, from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), says airborne transmission is backed by current evidence, the trend of rising infections and similarities between the current coronavirus and its predecessor that caused the SARS outbreak in 2002-03.

But, despite a growing consensus among researchers, public health advice remains focused on preventative measures aimed at avoiding large respiratory droplets, either from an infected person’s cough, sneeze or fomites, she says. 

Professor Morawska, from QUT’s International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health in Brisbane, says that authorities should expand the recommendations to also include all possible precautions against airborne transmission.