The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday abruptly removed from its website the guidelines that related to airborne transmission of the coronavirus that it had posted on Friday last, as per media reports.
Responding to the removal of the guidelines, CDC spokesperson Jason McDonald, told CNN: “A draft version of the proposed changes to these recommendations was posted in error to the agency’s official website.”
He added: “CDC is currently updating its recommendations regarding the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes Covid-19). Once this process has been completed, the updated language will be posted.”
Earlier guidelines
CDC had posted on Friday how the virus can be transmitted through aerosols, acknowledging that the virus can remain suspended in air, causing proliferation.
It had also suggested preventive measures to be taken to destroy the virus in the air. This includes using air purifiers in closed spaces, and maintaining six feet distance, among others, as per previous reports.
The updated version also removed its statement for asymptomatic cases that said: “Some people without symptoms may be able to spread the virus. People who are infected but do not show symptoms can spread the virus to others.”
The CDC website now claims that the virus is thought to spread mainly between people in close contact — about 6 feet — and “through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks”.
However, earlier in July, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had already confirmed that the coronavirus can be transmitted through air.
WHO had informed that the novel coronavirus ‘most commonly spreads between people who are in close contact with each other, within six feet, and through respiratory droplets or small particles, such as those in aerosols, produced when an infected person sneezes, coughs, speaks, breathes, and sings’.