Experts have warned that people drinking together in pubs carry more risk of spreading the coronavirus than planes.
Dr Julian W Tang, honorary associate professor of respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester, said the most common method of transmission in the UK is probably ‘conversational exposure’.
He said being in a busy pub is worse than being on an aeroplane because planes have better ventilation.
It comes after new lockdown restrictions have been reimposed in Preston and Aberdeen.
Pictured: Pub-goers at The Grill in Union Street in Aberdeen before the city reimposed lockdown restrictions
Pictured: Drinkers sitting on outdoor seating at a bar in Preston. A local lockdown has been enforced in Preston since a coronavirus outbreak was traced to pubs and restaurants
The spike in Preston was blamed on households mixing in pubs and homes and the spike in Aberdeen’s lockdown came after an outbreak of cases linked to a number of bars emerged.
The ‘perfect storm’ for spreading coronavirus in pubs is created by the potential build-up of infected droplets caused by poor ventilation people having continuous conversations, often speaking more loudly to be heard over the din of a noisy bar.
Dr Tang said: ‘If the air space is poorly ventilated, that air that’s full of virus is not going to go anywhere.
‘It’s going to linger there until the virus dries up and dies over time. ‘ he told the PA news agency, adding that the most common method of transmission in the UK is probably ‘conversational exposure’.
He pointed out that when people laugh they produce a lot of air, so if someone in a group in the pub makes a joke then they are massively exposed to exhaled air from the laughter around them.
The professor said you know if you are too close to someone if you can smell garlic on someone’s breath because it means you are close enough to be inhaling their air.
Pictured: People in the Astoria nightclub in London on Friday night, which was the August day on record since 2003
Pictured: People queuing to get into the Astoria on Friday night, the first night it has opened since lockdown
Dr Tang thinks people do not realise how safe planes actually are because of their good ventilation.
He said: ‘To be honest, on a plane the danger is from your nearest neighbours because that air is not filtered away quickly enough before you inhale it.
‘That’s the main risk on a plane.’
‘I don’t see planes as a major risk.
‘If you ask me would I rather fly on a plane or go to a pub, I’d rather fly on a plane.’
‘In a pub you go there to talk, you go there to do exactly what you need to do to transmit the virus to each other.’
Dr Bharat Pankhania, senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter, pointed out that even after one or two drinks people will drop their guard and are likely to be less cautious.
He said: ‘What do you do in the pub? Well you drink, and you have a conversation.’
‘But several conversations in a confined space equals incrementally raising your voice to be heard.
‘So more droplets equals more chance of picking up one droplet that eventually infects the other person.
‘It is a perfect storm aided and abetted by alcohol the enabler.’
‘With a silent enemy, the coronavirus coming out of droplets, you are blissfully unaware that it is happening, until a week later you have signs and symptoms of illness.’
Dr Pankhania said he would personally avoid going on a plane during a pandemic but thinks planes carry less risk than pubs, explaining: ‘In the pub there is a free for all after a few drinks, whereas in the aeroplane it is a managed environment.’
He pointed out that on a plane journey people will be taking precautions such as wearing masks and there will be less conversation.
‘When people are boarding an aeroplane they are so conscience of a potential risk that they are in prevention mode and in hyper prevention mode.
‘When you are in a pub your inhibitions by design are reduced and removed and you are never in a prevention mode,’ he said.
Dr Pankhania pointed out that pubs attract sociable people who are likely to have met up with many other people.
‘So they are meeting a lot of people as well as meeting you in the pub. You might be meeting them only, but you don’t know how many they have met,’ he said.
He added that even people who go to the pub alone for a quiet drink are at risk as they are putting themselves into an environment where the virus could be in free circulation.
Dr Pankhania also commented on restaurants, saying: ‘I personally think going into a restaurant indoors where there are lots of tables etc in a confined space, without any new attention to increased ventilation, I would say it’s best you avoid it.’