“Australian agency CSIRO said the new coronavirus was “extremely robust,” staying alive for 4 weeks on even surfaces like the glass on handset screens and plastic as well as banknotes, when kept at 20C (68F), close to room temperature, and in the dark”.
The new coronavirus is capable of staying active, i.e. capable of causing infection, on surfaces including phone screes, banknotes and stainless steel for up to 4 weeks, according to new research.
The National Science Agency of Australia’s discovery point to the possibility that SARS-Cov-2 could stay alive well beyond the period many experts had supposed on these surfaces.
Given that ultraviolet light is believed to kill the virus, the agency’s experiment happened under darkness i.e. under conditions more friendly to the coronavirus.
This has led some scientists to dismiss the likelihood of contracting the virus through contact with surfaces; they insist that people sneezing, coughing and talking close to each other remains the most common means through which it is spread.
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Nevertheless, there is also evidence that the virus might be communicated via particles (emitted through talking) hovering in the air, but studies by the United States Centres for Disease Control found that cases of such transmission are rare.
Until now, laboratory tests showed SARS-Cov-2 could survive for between two and three days on glass, currency notes and glass, and a maximum of 6 days on stainless and plastic.
Australian agency CSIRO said the new coronavirus was “extremely robust,” staying alive for 4 weeks on even surfaces like the glass on handset screens and plastic as well as banknotes, when kept at 20C (68F), close to room temperature, and in the dark.
The flu virus could relatively stay alive in the same conditions for two weeks and three days.
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According to the research published in Virology Journal similarly discovered that SARS-Cov-2 remained alive at a shorter live span under hotter temperatures than cooler temperatures; it became non-infectious in 24 hours at 40C on some surfaces.
However, Ron Eccles, a professor and one-time director of Common Cold Centre at Cardiff University, cast doubt on the findings of the National Science Agency of Australia, saying that suggesting that the virus could stay alive for 28 days is spurring undue public fear.
“Viruses are spread on surfaces from mucus in coughs and sneezes and dirty fingers and this study did not use fresh human mucus as a vehicle to spread the virus.”
“Fresh mucus is a hostile environment for viruses as it contains lots of white cells that produce enzymes to destroy viruses and can also contain antibodies and other chemicals to neutralise viruses.
“In my opinion infectious viruses will only persist for hours in mucus on surfaces rather than days,” he said.
Professor Emmanuel Goldman, a microbiology scholar at Rutgers University said “the chance of transmission through inanimate surfaces is very small” in a publication by the Lancet in July.
Monica Gandhi, a medicine professor at University of California, is similarly of the opinion that the coronavirus could not be transmitted through surfaces.
Previous research has proven that the virus might be infectious in airborne particles for over three hours but did not confirm the extent to which it can spread through surfaces like banknotes and touchscreens.
The Australian experiments were conducted in a dark humid room with steady temperatures, meaning that the virus may not survive for as long as the 28 days in the real world.
The outcome of the experiments nevertheless indicate the significance of taking precautions like hand-washing and washing touchscreens frequently and refraining from touching one’s face in order to curb the chances of getting infected.
Larry Marshall, chief executive of CSIRO, said “establishing how long the virus really remains viable on surfaces enables us to more accurately predict and mitigate its spread, and do a better job of protecting our people.”
Workers in their thousands have contracted the virus at meat processing plants as well as abattoirs around the globe.
Among the factors aiding the spread are cold and wet environments, cramped working conditions and the necessity to talk with energy and hence emit saliver when people work around noise-making machines.
“There is currently no confirmed case of Covid-19 transmitted through food or food packaging,” the World Health Organisation said.
