Is it safe to fly?

NEW evidence is emerging daily around COVID-19 – how it is spread, how long it can survive in the air and whether certain environments raise risk of infection, writes CHARLOTTE COX.

As people start venturing out more to pubs and restaurants, and as Manchester Airport’s third terminal reopens and flights ramp up here and around the world, work by scientists on how people catch the virus is key.

Latest research suggests the coronavirus spreads more widely in the air than the World Health

Organisation (WHO) had previously suggested, especially in crowded, closed and poorly ventilated settings.

However, the WHO says this evidence needs to be ‘gathered and interpreted’ and a major project is now under way to determine whether COVID-19 can spread through tiny airborne particles released by infected people, and whether they remain suspended in the air for hours.

Scientists are also investigating whether tiny aerosols carrying the virus are spread through air conditioning and ventilation in environments like hospitals.

It’s a divisive and complex subject – as proven by our interviews below with two University of Manchester scientists, around the spread of COVID-19.