The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has explained that aircraft cabin doesn’t represent a detrimental risk of contracting COVID-19, despite the Omicron virus variant being more transmissible than other strains.
This was contained in a press release issued on December 22 by IATA’s Medical Advisor, David Powell in which he noted that factors that make aircraft cabins very low infection facilities include the design characteristics such as the direction of airflow, rate of air exchange and filtration.
This was in addition to the forward orientation of passengers while seated, the necessary masking requirements, and more sanitary measures.
He also noted that the controlled nature of the cabin in comparison to other indoor environments adds an additional measure of protection.
Although public health authorities have not recommended any further measures for enclosed environments due to Omicron, IATA’s advice for travellers, including correctly wearing masks, remains effective and even more important than ever.
IATA, which represents some 290 airlines comprising 83 per cent of global air traffic, previously called on governments to end travel bans imposed due to the Omicron virus variant.
According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) statement made weeks ago, travel bans imposed on countries impact travellers and livelihoods, especially countries that report positive cases, which can discourage them from sharing this information.
Based on this statement, IATA called on governments to rescind their travel bans and permit travelling to occur within possible levels.
“After nearly two years with Coronavirus, we know a lot about the virus and the inability of travel restrictions to control its spread. But the discovery of the Omicron variant induced instant amnesia on governments which implemented knee-jerk restrictions in complete contravention of advice from the WHO,” IATA’s Director-General, Willie Walsh, noted.
Furthermore, the Airports Council International (ACI) recently revealed that passenger traffic has dropped by 20 per cent since the first report of Omicron positive cases. This means that EU airports’ performance noted in the last seven days of November impacted the month’s overall performance. As a result, the passenger traffic in the EU increased by only 1.5 per cent compared to the previous month, which stands at 32.5 per cent behind the pre-pandemic levels.
According to European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), data collected between December 16 to December 19 reveals that Denmark accounts for the highest number of Omicron cases identified in Europe with 762 infection cases, followed by France (347), Germany (249) and Estonia (242).
