Ventilation systems ‘could spread virus’

COVID-19 found in hospital air duct

Coronavirus could spread around buildings via air-conditioning systems or even on a draught, analysis suggests, after scientists found traces of the virus in a hospital air duct.

The results from swab analysis of the rooms used by three coronavirus patients indicate the disease may be more contagious than previously thought. Even though the patient in question was suffering only “mild” symptoms, scientists from the National Centre for Infectious Diseases in Singapore found evidence of the virus in the hospital’s air exhaust.

This “suggests that small virus- laden droplets may be displaced by airflows and deposited on equipment such as vents”, they said.

It comes as Sir Patrick Vallance, the U.K. government’s chief scientific adviser, said officials were considering isolating entire households in a bid to control the outbreak, after the second death from COVID-19 in Britain.

Currently experts are warning cohabitees of people with symptoms to minimize contact and to not share a bathroom if possible, but are not advising they stay at home as well.

Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the new findings have implications for the safety of people using buildings which recycle internal air. The same applies to cruise ships, which typically use a mix of recycled air already inside the vessel and fresh air from outside to save on costs.

It comes after more than 700 people came down with coronavirus and at least six died on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

Experts say the policy of quarantining the entire ship in Japan turned it into a “breeding ground” for COVID-19.

Toward the start of the global outbreak, which has seen 3,412 deaths, virologists suspected COVID- 19 required larger, heavier droplets to survive outside the body. However, the fact that it appears to survive on smaller, lighter droplets — similar to seasonal influenza — makes it more contagious.