Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, on July 11 claimed that it is safe to be in an aircraft cabin without physical distancing amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

He made the comment when he led a team of aviation industry stakeholders and the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja to the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA) in Kano.

The trip was to assess the airport’s readiness for resumption of domestic flights following the coronavirus-induced lockdown of the nation’s aviation sector.

The claim was published in many national dailies including The Nation, ThisDay and Guardian.

It has also generated a lot of public debate and reactions from Nigerians.



THE CLAIM

Sirika in the news report said “However, let me explain the mechanics and the going ons in an airplane that makes it safe in COVID-19 period. Airplanes are designed in such a way that the ambient air at altitudes is clean. It is not contaminated.

“The air is dropped in the aircraft, pressurised and because of pressurisation, the temperature of the air goes up to 200 degrees which is twice boiling water and there is no bacteria or virus that can survive it and it is suddenly cooled to about 2 degrees centigrade and then it is passed to a filter.

“Passing through the filtration system ensures that every single organism is screened and then it is passed to the cabin and once it is passed through the cabin, it comes from the ceiling downwards.

“So, it is not coming from the cockpit to the rear, it is from the ceiling downwards and it drops on the floor and gets circulated.

“This circulation happens every two minutes. So, on a flight from Abuja to Lagos, the circulation will happen like 27 to 30 times. With this, it is ensured that it is more hygienic to be in an airplane than to be in an operating theatre in the hospital” .

Sirika added that “With this mechanism in place, everything will be safe provided that we are decontaminating the airplane before we enter and decontaminating after we leave and also cleaning all the possible surfaces that one will touch.

“If this continues, then everyone is safe to remain in the cabin seated next to each other with the mask on. So with this, yes you can be without physical distancing but in the departure and arrival halls and everywhere including the buses, you must remain physically distanced like at least six feet or two metres.”

The minister made two claims:

That it is safe to be in an aircraft without physical distancing amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
That it is more hygienic to be in an airplane than to be in an operating theatre in the hospital?

READ MORE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/fact-check-covid-19-is-it-safe-to-be-in-an-aircraft-without-physical-distancing/

Hmmm.....My thoughts also.....Though i'm not thinking about flying anytime soon