A Japanese experiment demonstrating how the coronavirus can easily
spread inside an enclosed environment such as a restaurant has gone viral
recently.

The study, as reported by CNN, is conducted by public broadcasting
service NHK in collaboration with health experts, and simulates the interiors
of a buffet restaurant or a cruise ship wherein one seemingly infected person,
identifiable by a fluorescent substance in his hands only visible under black light,
is one amongst 10 people in the space.

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The substance represents the germs from a cough or a sneeze, and
movement of the individuals is kept unrestricted for the experiment, without
any one of them suspecting possible contamination.

Reportedly, the infection at the end of the video is seen to have spread
to surfaces such as serving utensils, platters, as well as on the food and the
faces of some subjects.

Japan, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally, has had 16,049
COVID-19 cases and 478 deaths, while worldwide the virus has affected more than
4.3 million people.

Johns Nicholls, a clinical professor of Pathology in Hong Kong
University, said, according to the report, that the experiment demonstrates how
fast the contagion can spread when hygiene is not maintained.

Noting that the disease can spread to people and surfaces in quite an
efficient manner, Nicholls is quoted as saying that he thinks “it really
highlights the need of what people have been saying about hand hygiene to stop
the spread of disease.”

Describing the discrepancy, however, the professor reportedly further
notes that the amount of fluorescent substance would not justifiably reflect the
amount of germs on an individual’s hands.

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A contradictory opinion was offered by Kentaro Itawa, an infectious
disease specialist at Kobe University, who said that “The experiment just
described the possibility of the spread by contact, and that is not proof of
what happened, so the distinction has to be clearly made between what could
happen and what did happen”, as reported by CNN.

The experiment includes a second scenario executed by NHK, wherein the
individuals maintained hand hygiene and all the surfaces and utensils were
replaced or wiped clean. In this case, however, upon going under black light,
none of the individuals seemed to have contracted the virus.