‘Inspect tyres’: Mamata Banerjee amid concerns trucks are Covid carriers
The chief minister’s apprehension comes a day after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Covid-19 can spread through airborne transmission.
Covid-19 could be spreading via airborne transmission and coming to Bengal through trucks and lorries originating from other states, noted chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday.
The chief minister’s apprehension comes a day after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Covid-19 can spread through airborne transmission.
“No matter what others say, Covid-19 is surely spreading through air-borne transmission. We still don’t know till how far the virus is spreading through air. Everyone is giving a different opinion. All we can do is to take precaution till the time a vaccine is developed,” she said at an administrative meeting on Tuesday.
The CDC in an updated guidance on Monday had said that Covid-19 can spread through airborne transmission. A month ago, the CDC took down a similar warning. The updated guidance said that the virus can linger in the air for minutes to hours in small droplets and particles, or aerosols, and some people could get infected by exposure to these.
The chief minister advised officials of Jhargram district, where the administrative meeting was being held, to check the tyres of some trucks entering the state. Jhargram shares its borders with Jharkhand and Covid-19 numbers have been rising in the district over the past few weeks.
“We need to test the tyres of a few trucks which are entering the state through toll plazas. If the virus can be transmitted through clothes and shopping bags, then why not tyres,” Banerjee said.
Even though studies have shown that the virus could spread readily in a closed, small setting like public transport, no study has been published yet hinting that the virus could be transmitted through tyres of moving vehicles.
“In my locality, six members of one family had tested positive. From them, the disease had spread to 36 others. I had stopped the movement of vehicles on the road where the house was located because as vehicles move from one place to another, they can spread diseases. The tyres of vehicles can carry organisms, which can trigger diseases. Soon after the locality was turned into a containment zone and the movement of vehicles was stopped, the disease stopped spreading. But as soon as the restrictions were withdrawn on September 8, it again started spreading. Two of my office-bearers have tested positive after the restrictions were lifted,” she added.