As the global pandemic total topped 12 million COVID-19 cases today, the World Health Organization (WHO) today announced two major developments: the publication of a scientific brief about transmission, including the airborne route, and the initiation of an independent panel to review the world's pandemic response.With the global number now growing by about 1 million cases a week, the total climbed to 12,128,406 cases, with 551,522 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins online dashboard.Airborne spread discussed in WHO briefEarlier this week, an international group of more than 200 scientists signed a Clinical Infectious Diseases research letter that made a case for airborne spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 and urged the