Is Two Metres Gap Enough to Prevent Spread of Coronavirus? Will Warmer Weather Combat COVID-19? FAQs Answered

According to a study the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) the gap should be four times bigger at around 26 feet.

Updated: March 29, 2020 4:09 PM IST

By India.com News Desk | Edited by Surabhi Shaurya

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New Delhi: As the coronavirus pandemic continued to tighten its grip across the world, health officials are leaving no stone unturned to keep people safe. From hockey sticks to downhill skis, they are searching for relatable ways  to urge people to maintain a physical distance to combat COVID-19.

“Stay two metres (6 feet, 6 inches) apart. It’s not such a difficult thing,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had tweeted this week. But by Friday, he tested positive for the deadly virus.

According to the reports of international news agency Reuters, Toronto has posted signs in parks appealing residents to maintain one hockey stick distance, evoking the country’s passion for the game.

Meanwhile, the Sarasota county government in Florida has stated that a safe distance is the length of one beach towel. Besides, one can also follow the guidance of the City of Calgary, Alberta, who suggested a ‘big llama’.

However, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said that the gap should be four times bigger at around 26 feet. The two-metre social distancing rule need to be four times bigger to combat the spread of COVID-19, MIT warned.

Besides, MIT also claimed that the Asian countries experiencing monsoon may experience lesser transmission of the virus. The scientists assessed data on the number of COVID-19 infections in different parts of the world and compared it with two parameters of weather from all the regions — temperature and humidity.

The findings, described in SSRN repository, show that 90 per cent of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, transmissions until March 22, 2020 have occurred in regions with temperature between 3 and 17 degrees Celsius. They added that these regions also had between 4 to 9 gram per cubic metre (g/m3) of absolute humidity — a measure of the amount of water vapour per cubic metre of atmosphere.

According to the MIT scientists, the total number of cases in countries with mean temperature greater than 18 degree Celsius and absolute humidity more than 9 g/m3 in January-February-early March is less than 6 per cent. Based on their analysis, the scientists noted that Asian countries experiencing monsoon may see a slowdown in transmission as absolute humidity is generally above 10g/m3 during monsoon.

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