Airborne COVID-19: Mamata Banerjee says trucks could be carriers, advises to 'inspect tyres'

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said that "Covid-19 is surely spreading through airborne transmission" in the state. She has also mused that the virus could be coming to Bengal through trucks and lorries originating from other states. Banerjee expressed her apprehension a day after the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that the Covid-19 can spread through airborne transmission.

"We still don't know till how far the virus is spreading through the air. Everyone is giving a different opinion. All we can do is to take precaution till the time a COVID-19 vaccine is developed," she said at an administrative meeting to discuss anti-COVID efforts in the state.

Banerjee also advised officials of Jhargram district, where the administrative meeting was being held, to check the tires of some trucks entering the state. "If the virus can be transmitted through clothes and shopping bags, then why not tires," Banerjee said. Studies have shown that the novel coronavirus could spread readily in a closed, small setting like public transport. However, there is no study that suggests that the virus could be transmitted through tires of moving vehicles.

The CDC on Monday said that the COVID-19 virus can linger in the air for minutes to hours in small droplets and particles, or aerosols. These particles could infect some persons, it said.

Banerjee further claimed that she had stopped the virus from spreading in her locality after she had restricted the movement of vehicles in an area where several infections were reported. "The tyres of vehicles can carry organisms, which can trigger diseases," the West Bengal Chief Minister further added.

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