Two leading academics have warned of the risks of spreading the coronavirus when people return to offices after months of working from home .

Professor Martin Michaelis and Dr Mark Wass of the University of Kent's School of Biosciences in Canterbury spoke out after Health Secretary Matt Hancock said there was "little evidence" of transmission of the virus in offices.

KMTV reports on the story

Mr Hancock said in a recent interview: "The reason is the evidence from NHS Test and Trace for where people catch the disease is that very largely they catch it from one household meeting another household, usually in one of their homes. So it is that household transmission that is the core root of passing on this virus in this country.

"The amount of people who have caught it in workplaces is relatively low, from the evidence we’ve got.”

But the university duo say unless workplaces take considerable care, there is a risk of transmission.

They said: "This is a simplistic view, failing to consider that offices have been largely closed during the lockdown and most people worked from home if they could. We will only learn about virus transmission in offices, when people return to them.

"Considering the known transmission routes of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, offices are places at high risk of virus transmission, in particular if no preventive measures are taken.

"SARS-CoV-2 is spread via the air and via contaminated surfaces. The risk of infection is strongly increased in closed rooms because the virus concentration increases over time, in particular if there is no effective ventilation. Dry office air has recently been shown to further increase the infection risk. Hence, a humidity of at least 40% is recommended.

"Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted via shared equipment, which makes hot-desking a significant concern. Every item touched by many - such as door handles, coffee machines and photocopiers - is an immediate infection risk.

"Notably, one of the most prominent cases of virus transmission occurred at the work place.

"A visitor from China, who did not display symptoms at the time, infected four members of a German company. Only two individuals were directly infected by the visitor, one of which went on two infect two further employees. The transmission chain was stopped when the visitor had returned to China and reported symptoms by contact tracing and isolation.

"This illustrates how quickly asymptomatic transmission can result in a substantial disease outbreak in an office, in the absence of strict control measures.

"The safe return to offices depends on thorough prevention measures. This includes hygiene concepts that prevent virus spread via contaminated equipment and surfaces, distancing measures that prevent virus transmission through the air, routine testing and effective contact tracing systems. Failure to install these measures proficiently and for the long term, is to risk resurgence of a virus that is still entirely present in our society."

The warning comes amid an expected surge in people returning to offices next month to coincide with the reopening of schools after the summer break and, for many students, enforced closures since March.

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