Talking to someone who is infected with the coronavirus can be just as dangerous as coughing, recent studies suggest.

Covid can be spread through several routes, including virus-containing sprays that are released into the air when an infected person breathes, talks or coughs - a factor that experts say explains why Covid seems to spread more easily indoors.

As large droplets fall to the ground at short distances, small droplets, known as aerosols, can carry the virus at distances greater than two meters.

"You need masks, you need physical distance and you need good ventilation, so that these particles do not accumulate indoors and leave safely," said Prof. Pedro Magalhaes de Oliveira from Cambridge University Cambridge and co-author of the study.

The team concluded that it is unsafe to stand without a mask two meters away from an infected person who is talking or coughing because both situations pose a risk.

The team added that an hour after an infected person spoke for 30 seconds, aerosols contained much more viral mass than after a cough - adding that in small, unventilated spaces this could be enough to cause Covid infection. .

Sources: Guardian, The Irish Times