The space station is the safest place to avoid Covid-19

By the morning of March 20, the world had more than 244,000 people with Covid-19. No country, no land is said to be absolutely safe from disease . All are at risk. Except for the International Space Station ISS.

The International Space Station (ISS) travels in space in orbit about 319.6 km - 346.9 km from the ground, co-operated by space agencies of the United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada. .

But why would the International Space Station be the safest place for crew members to avoid potentially dangerous pathogens, such as Covid-19?

First of all, it is thanks to the very strict rules when putting astronauts on the ISS.

International Space Station ISS - (Photo: NASA).

The world has many scientists but not everyone is eligible to become an astronaut to fly into space. In addition to the conditions of knowledge, skills to handle situations, an astronaut must ensure good health.

Before each launch to the space station, astronauts are isolated for weeks to monitor health and detect any symptoms of dangerous infection.

"This is like a best screening of healthy, qualified individuals to go to space stations , " said Luis Zea, a scientist at the BioServe Space Technologies research institute (Colorado, USA).

The US Space and Space Administration (NASA) always applies these quarantine measures to all its astronauts before sending them to the International Space Station ISS. Even if a person appears to have common colds such as colds, allergies or flu, they will be disqualified.

Courtney Beasley, a spokesman for NASA, told Newsweek that all crews must be isolated for two weeks before boarding. This work is to prevent crew members from carrying potentially dangerous viruses and germs to the space station. This means that even when Covid-19 is stirring the world, the space station is still very safe.

Astronaut protection measures don't stop at monitoring human health. According to Courtney Beasley, any package sent to the ISS must undergo special inspection to prevent pathogens. Special probes are also disinfected.

Another reason is that Covid-19 can only exist for a short time on the surface of metal, wood, plastic . Meanwhile, the astronauts spent long periods of isolation before flying into space.

All astronauts also undergo emergency medical training and maintain regular contact with a group of underground doctors who closely monitor their health. When an emergency medical situation occurs, the crew is also able to handle the situation on the spot.

In severe cases, immediately infected astronauts will be evacuated onto Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to leave the station, return to Earth for timely medical treatment.