A simulation made by scientists shows that a single cough in a supermarket can spread meters to the next aisle and take six minutes to settle – putting shoppers at risk of catching coronavirus.
In the animation, a person coughs without covering their mouth and makes a cloud of particles which swell outwards and up to three meters high.
The particles float over the supermarket shelves and engulf another shopper standing in the next aisle. Unfortunately, if people won’t self-isolate when they have a cough or even cover their mouths then it increases the risk of the infection spreading in lockdown.
The only thing to do is to avoid shopping as much as possible, according to the lead scientist in the study. Professor Ville Vuorinen of Aalto