By AFP More by this AuthorScientists have known for several months the new coronavirus can become suspended in microdroplets expelled by patients when they speak and breathe, but until now there was no proof that these tiny particles are infectious. The paper was posted to the medrxiv.org website, where most cutting-edge research during the pandemic has first been made public. The team managed to collect microdroplets as small as one micron in diametre. For Santarpia, this represents proof that microdroplets, which also travel much greater distances than big droplets, are capable of infecting people. "I think most scientists that work on infectious diseases agree that there's likely an airborne component, though we may quibble over how large."

Source: Daily Nation July 22, 2020 03:35 UTC