Remember, the 1-meter rule? Apparently, scientists in China has conducted research to show that maybe the distance is not enough after all. 

A new study examining air samples from hospital wards with COVID-19 patients has found the virus can travel up to 4 meters.



That’s twice the distance current guidelines say people should leave between themselves in public.

Oh no!

According to a report in AFP, the fact was discovered by an investigation by Chinese researchers, who published the results in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a journal of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

They reportedly tested surface and air samples from an intensive care unit and a general COVID-19 ward at Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan and found that the virus was concentrated on the floors of the wards, "perhaps because of gravity and airflow causing most virus droplets to float to the ground".

They also found high levels of the virus on frequently touched surfaces like computer mice, trashcans, bed rails and doorknobs.

"Furthermore, half of the samples from the soles of the ICU medical staff shoes tested positive.

Soles of shoes COVID-19 carriers?

"Therefore, the soles of medical staff shoes might function as carriers."
The team said aerosol transmission, where the droplets of the virus are so fine they become suspended and remain airborne for several hours, with most concentrated near and downstream from patients at up to 4meters - though smaller quantities were found upstream, up to eight feet.

There is still much research to be done to confirm the findings but we all should be careful. 

We have to remember that this is a novel coronavirus or new coronavirus. 

There is a lot that we still don't understand about COVID-19, and as more and more research is done, we are bound to uncover things that we never knew before.