THIS horrifying video shows how a sneeze can spray droplets of coronavirus up to 26ft.
While sneezing is not a known symptom of Covid-19, experts say that it is one of the ways the virus can be spread.
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It can also be transmitted via coughs and touching contaminated surfaces - and it's why social distancing measures are so important.
But shocking new research has suggested that the recommended two-metre rule might not be far enough.
Experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filmed a sneeze in slow-motion to show how far infectious droplets were expelled.
Prof Lydia Bourouiba, who led the research, found that they had managed to reach a whopping 26ft - or 8m.
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She explained that sneezes and coughs are primarily made of a turbulent gas cloud - known as a puff - which can carry clusters of droplets in a sequence of differing sizes.
The moist and warm atmosphere within the cloud allows the droplets to evade evaporation for much longer than with isolated droplets, she added.
Writing in the study, published in the journal JAMA, she said: "Owing to the forward momentum of the cloud, pathogen-bearing droplets are propelled much farther than if they were emitted in isolation without a turbulent puff cloud trapping and carrying them forward.
"Given various combinations of an individual patient’s physiology and environmental conditions, such as humidity and temperature, the gas cloud and its payload of pathogen-bearing droplets of all sizes can travel 23 to 26 feet (7-8 m)."
She also pointed out that throughout the duration of the expelled sneeze, droplets of all sizes settle out or evaporate at varying rates.
These can depend not only their size, but also the degree of turbulence and speed of the gas cloud combined with other factors such as temperature, humidity and airflow.
Prof Bourouiba added: "Droplets that settle along the trajectory can contaminate surfaces, while the rest remain trapped and clustered in the moving cloud.
"Eventually the cloud and its droplet payload lose momentum and coherence, and the remaining droplets within the cloud evaporate."
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She said that this produces residues that can stay suspended in the air for hours - and follow airflow by ventilation or climate-control systems.
Her research pointed to a report from China that found that particles of SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes Covid-19 - were found in the ventilation systems in hospital rooms of patients with the illness.
Prof Bourouiba said: "Finding virus particles in these systems is consistent with the turbulent gas cloud hypothesis of disease transmission because it explains how viable virus particles can travel long distances from patients.
"Whether these data have clinical implications with respect to Covid-19 is unknown."
Social distancing measure
She also suggested that the recommended social distancing rule of 2m, or 6ft, may not be enough to stop the spread of the virus.
Prof Bourouiba said: "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.
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"Given the turbulent puff cloud dynamic model, recommendations for separations of 3 to 6 feet (1-2 m) 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 health care 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 6 feet away from a patient."
In order to reduce the likelihood of transmission, the World Health Organisation also recommends that people frequently wash their hands, cover their mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing, and avoid close contact with those who are sick.