Singapore Minister of Health, Gan Kim Yong, gives an update regarding the transmission of person-to-person Coronavirus.
According to the minister, the virus is found in droplets and is not airborne. Individuals get infected when an infectious droplet enters the eye, nose or mouth of the person, whether directly or indirectly. Therefore, people are urged to wash their hands regularly and to avoid rubbing hands in their faces to minimise the risk of infection.
Video Transcript: "Let me now share what we know about this novel Coronavirus. This virus comes from the family of Coronavirus, which includes other viruses such as MERS and SARS as well as some other variants causing the common cold. The medical consensus, at this moment, is that a novel Coronavirus is more transmissible but appears less deadly than SARS.
"Evidence suggests that the rate of human-to-human transmission of this virus appears to be higher than that of SARS. For now, the evidence also suggests that transmission is mostly via droplets. What this is that the virus is carried within droplets emitted from an infected person over a short distance such as when a person coughs or sneezes.
"If these drops come into contact with the eyes, nose or mouth of an individual directly or indirectly through hands that have come into contact with these droplets, the individual may become infected.
"To clarify, there is no evidence, currently, to suggest that the virus is airborne.
"There are other viruses such as the chickenpox, which can easily be transported via air, via air currents and do not require droplets to contact the eyes or nose. The novel Coronavirus is not in this category of viruses.
"The novel Coronavirus could also transmit through surface contact. Let me explain:
"When a person sneezes and coughs the droplets fall on the surfaces of tables and chairs and a virus may remain alive for up to a few days. When someone else touches the surfaces of these tables and chairs, the virus can be transferred to his hands. And if he then rubs his eyes or nose without washing his hands, he may become infected. So, we should wash our hands.
"This is also why we only quarantine the close contacts of confirmed cases. For more transient contacts such as individuals that the confirmed cases may have walked passed in malls or hotels, the risk of transmission is low.
"For Coronavirus, the person is most infectious when her is displaying symptoms."
