WHO says no change to COVID-19 transmission guidance after U.S. change

The World Health Organization has not changed its policy on aerosol transmission of the coronavirus, an official said on Monday after U.S. health officials updated their guidance with a warning that COVID-19 can spread through airborne particles.

The World Health Organization has not changed its policy on aerosol transmission of the coronavirus, an official said on Monday after U.S. health officials updated their guidance with a warning that COVID-19 can spread through airborne particles. Mike Ryan, executive director of the UN agency's emergencies programme, said he would follow up with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the next 24 hours after it said COVID-19 could spread through airborne particles that can remain suspended in the air and travel beyond six feet.

"Certainly we haven't seen any new evidence and our position on this remains the same," he said in a briefing. The CDC has previously said the virus mainly spreads from person to person through respiratory droplets when a sick person coughs, sneezes or talks.