Understanding the Role of Ventilation in Airborne Transmission

The World Health Organization and Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States have recently updated their views on the SARS-CoV-2 transmission can occur through airborne transmission.

The CDC highlighted that exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus can occur in three principals ways:

  1. inhalation of very fine respiratory droplets and aerosol particles,
  2. deposition of the respiratory droplets and particles on exposed mucus membranes in the mouth, nose, or eyes by direct splashes and sprays, and
  3. touching mucous membranes with hands that have been soiled either directly by virus-containing respiratory fluids or indirectly by touching surfaces with the virus on them.

Taking the new mode of transmission into consideration, the Ministry of Health Malaysia have came up with a guide to the management of ventilation:

Prof Dr Victor Hoe shared views on “Understanding the Role of Ventilation in Airborne Transmission” at one of the Malaysia Society for Occupational Safety and Health (MSOSH) 50-year celebration OSH programmes. The session was held on 14 June 2021 at 9 pm through the Zoom platform and was also live-stream on Facebook.

Dr Hoe discuss on the mode of transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the factors to be considered for effective ventilation in the prevention of airborne infection which includes type of ventilation, air flow, air change/hour, HEPA and UVGI systems.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive an awesome Newsletter in your inbox, every month.

We don’t spam! We only sent out Monthly Newsletter