The UK's coronavirus social distancing limit is at least four times too short, a study has warned. The public are currently being as...
The UK's coronavirus social distancing limit is at least four times too short, a study has warned.
The public are currently being asked to keep a distance from each other of at least 6ft 6in.
But a new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests the gap should be four times bigger at around 26 feet.
The UK's coronavirus social distancing limit is at least four times too short, a study has warned. Pictured: People keep their distance from each other as they queue to get into Tesco in Stoke-on-Trent on Saturday
The study, which was reported by the Telegraph, found that viral droplets expelled in coughs and sneezes can travel in a moist, warm atmosphere at speeds of between 33 and 100ft per second (ten metres to 100 metres).
This creates a cloud within the atmosphere that can span approximately 23ft to 27ft (seven metres to eight metres) to neighbouring people.
It has also been warned that droplets, which contribute to the rapid spread of covid-19, can remain suspended in the air for several hours.
And their direction can easily be changed by air ventilation systems to create 'turbulent clouds of air.'
Many people are now finding themselves in close quarters with others on a daily basis, with supermarkets still feeling the effects of mass panic buying of products.
In London, despite persistent calls from the Government for only essential workers to continue with the morning commute, images have revealed packed carriages on the London Underground.
The authors of the MIT study offered further clarity on their findings, and detailed why social distancing needs to be increased within the Journal of the American Medical Association (Jama).
The public are currently being asked to keep a distance from each other of at least 6ft 6in. But a new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggests the gap should be four times bigger at around 26 feet
Despite calls for only essential workers to make the daily commute, the underground remains bustling with members of the public unable to adhere to social distancing
'These distances are based on estimates of range that have not considered the possible presence of a high-momentum cloud carrying the droplets long distances,' they said.
'Given the turbulent puff cloud dynamic model, recommendations for separations of three feet to six feet (one metre to two metres) may underestimate the distance, timescale, and persistence over which the cloud and its pathogenic payload travel, thus generating an underappreciated potential exposure range for a healthcare worker.
'For these and other reasons, wearing of appropriate personal protection equipment is vitally important for health care workers caring for patients who may be infected, even if they are farther than six feet away from a patient.'
Further studies also reportedly show the virus does have the capability to survive in the warm conditions of a swimming pool, which throws the notion of temperature killing off covid-19 into serious question.
It had been believed that the warm weather in the summer would lead to there being fewer cases of COVID-19.
However, scientists at Nanjing Medical University in China discovered that the virus showed the ability to survive the temperature of a pool being between 25 degrees Celsius and 41 degrees Celsius and humidity of approximately 60 per cent.
Such conditions would typically kill off a strain of the common flu.
On Friday, Britain's coronavirus death toll surged by 181 as Government advisers warned that even stricter social distancing measures could be on the way.
It means the disease has now claimed 759 lives, including young and previously healthy people.
Government advisers said stricter social distancing policies may have to be rolled out next month if the grim figures continued to rise.
The measures would be introduced in three weeks as the outbreak reached its peak to further reduce 'person-to-person interaction'.