The Coronavirus, COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan, China and within a couple of months it started spreading rapidly almost the world over affecting lacs of people and killing thousands.
The different Coronaviruses are members of a large family and Covid-19 is not the same Coronavirus that causes common cold and fever among people. It is found that the Novel Coronavirus about which we are talking spreads from person to person.
All the observations made so far confirm that the Coronavirus transmission is not because of mosquito bite or through any other pests. The person-to-person transmission of the Coronavirus happens when the already infected person sneezes or coughs.
The droplets that are sprayed out as a result of sneezing or coughing may enter into the mouth or nose of a person who stands or sits close to the affected person and as a result the unaffected person also gets infected.
This happens when the distance between the affected person and the unaffected person is within 3 feet. Another possibility is that the person who stands close to the infected person may inhale the air that is contaminated with those droplets and becomes infected.
The virus that causes Covid-19 is not a ‘vector-borne’ virus and hence it is not transmitted by pests. The Dengue virus as well as Zika virus is vector-borne and is transmitted by mosquito.
How Covid-19 virus is transmitted?
It is to be understood that pests cannot transmit all types of viruses. Since the Covid-19 virus is unable to replicate inside mosquito or any other insect, it cannot be spread by mosquitoes or other pests.
Covid-19 virus is spread not through blood but through respiratory droplets that come out either from the mouth or from the nose of the affected person. People who are already infected with Covid-19 but show no symptoms can also spread the virus. Apart from that, an infected person with or without symptoms of Covid-19 will spread the virus when he/she touches a surface.
The Coronavirus that entered on a surface as a result of touching the surface by an infected person will remain there for some time and when an unaffected person happens to touch that surface and subsequently touches his nose, mouth or eyes gets the infection.
Hence it is very important to keep corona-affected patients in isolation so that they won’t touch public places. In case they happen to touch a public surface or carry an object in their hand which will be carried by others also, the surface or the object should be wiped immediately with a powerful disinfectant.
Social distancing
There has been no reliable evidence so far to confirm that Coronavirus is spread by mosquitoes or other pests. Researchers as well as medical experts have recorded that Covid-19 is caused by a respiratory virus and not by a blood-borne virus.
Since Covid-19 virus is spread from person to person, social distancing is the most effective solution to prevent spreading of the disease. In the case of Corona, social distancing refers to ensuring a distance not less than 6 feet between a person and another person.
Social distancing can prevent the menace of getting infected or infecting another person who is not infected so far.
