COVID-19 outbreak in summers! Air-conditioning could be dangerous if rooms not ventilated: South Korea
India with a population of 1.3 billion has a reason to worry as usage of air-conditioners is all set to go on a rampage in the coming days as temperature surges.
SEOUL: Having shown the world its ability to contain the deadly COVID-19 virus by introducing a series of innovative means, South Korea has cautioned that the second wave of Coronavirus outbreak could happen during summers also, and air-conditioning systems could prove dangerous in this regard.
The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has said that even though viruses happen to be weak as well as vulnerable to temperature, their spread is more about the density of population than low or high temperature.
India with a population of 1.3 billion has a reason to worry as the usage of air-conditioners is all set to go on a rampage in the coming days as temperature surges.
“If we (Korea) do have the second wave, it cannot necessarily be during winter but before that too when people use air-conditioners (ACs) that run at 22-25 degrees Celsius temperature. The viruses can survive for five days according to some studies from Britain. We recommend the people to ventilate the room as often as they can when using air-conditioners. In schools the 1/3rd of the windows need to be opened while running the ACs during the classes, “ said Kwon Jun-wook, Deputy Director-General, KCDC Headquarters while addressing queries from media persons across the world recently.
More than 40 journalists from 15 countries like USA, Italy, India, Spain, Hong Kong, Turkey, and others participated in this online press conference which was aired live on KTV (Korea Government TV channel), Global Arirang TV, Korea.net and their respective youtube live channels on May 7. Asian Community News (ACN) Network from India was also invited to participate in this press conference.
When asked, can COVID spread more when the temperature was down, did ACs spread the virus more and had Korea any plans to prohibit the use of ACs to prevent the spread of the virus?, Kwon Jun-wook said though viruses were weak and they became vulnerable to the temperature, the virus spread was more about density, not the temperature is high or low.
“Even the tropical regions have rainy and dry seasons and but virus spread when it becomes more dense population-wise. In Korea during winter people get mote influenza and flu as people gather in the indoor area resulting in a more dense population and they stand more chance of getting infected,” he added.
Experts from the Republic of Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) which is set to be renamed as Disease Control and Prevention Administration with enhanced powers, addressed the media queries.
The Foreign Press Center Korea (FPCKorea) organized this ‘Online International Media Briefing’ in response to very high demand for information from media around the world on the handling of the pandemic by the ROK.
While addressing another question about the possibility of the second wave of COVID-19, Son Youngrae, General Director (strategy and planning), Central Disaster Management Headquarters, Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said, “The second wave was possible in autumn and winter season. Even if we have the vaccine (by then), it won’t be easy to terminate the COVID-19. Spread of it for the second time is inevitable and we need to be ready to have the second wave anytime. We need to think of it as a given scenario as inevitable. And handle it more efficiently and contain it. The virus will be more active in cold temperatures during autumn and can be an explosive outbreak in winters when the temperature goes down, and the government is getting ready for it.”
The Korean experts had predicted on May 7 that unless Korea had a treatment or vaccine, an outbreak could not be ruled out as people in South Korea were on a 5-day holiday. “Not yet time to take the face masks off,” Son Youngrae clarified.
It is feared that people flouted social distancing norms and went to nightclubs, and this resulted in a sudden rise in the COVID-19 positive cases recently.
