Queensland University of Technology air quality expert, Lidia Morawska, has led a group of nearly forty researchers from 14 countries calling for the World Health Organisation to extend its indoor air quality guidelines to include airborne pathogens and the need to control airborne transmission of infections.
Professor Morawska says that ongoing costs to economies from not just the pandemic but regular flu seasons can be reduced by introducing updated guidelines to improve public health.
The World Health Organisation announced new guidelines this week regarding the airborne spread of COVID-19 but is yet to raise the issue of airborne transmission of diseases beyond the current pandemic.