Coronavirus can survive on skin for 9 hours, longer than flu virus: Study
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The study carried out by the researchers has been published in Clinical Infectious Diseases journal. The study was carried out in Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in Japan
A study carried out in Japan has revealed that COVID-19 virus survives on human skin for 9 hours. This is much longer than flu virus that can survive on human skin on only 1.8 hours. The discovery has underlined the need for good hygiene and frequent washing of hands.
The study carried out by the researchers has been published in Clinical Infectious Diseases journal. The study was carried out in Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in Japan.
They evaluated the stability of SARS-CoV-2 and IAV, mixed with culture medium or upper respiratory mucus, on human skin surfaces. The researchers also evaluated the disinfection effectiveness on skin of 80 per cent ethanol against SARS-CoV-2 and IAV.
“The nine hour survival of SARS-CoV-2 on human skin may increase the risk of contact transmission in comparison with IAV, thus accelerating the pandemic,” the researchers wrote in the journal.
“We generated a model that allows the safe reproduction of clinical studies on the application of pathogens to human skin and elucidated the stability of SARS-CoV-2 on the human skin,” the researchers added.
Although this is a finding worth taking note of, there is no need to panic. The researchers said that frequent use of hand sanitiser made the virus inactive.
“Proper hand hygiene is important to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections,” said the researchers.
(With PTI inputs)