Card, money and smartphone: coronavirus can live on some surfaces for up to 4 weeks

The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 can remain infectious on surfaces such as banknotes and smartphone screens for much longer than previously thought - up to 28 days, researchers from Australia's National Science Research Organization (CSIRO) have found. Writes about this with the BBC.

Photo: Shutterstock

However, some experts questioned whether viruses remaining on surfaces pose a real threat of infection. Most often, coronavirus is transmitted by airborne droplets when sneezing, coughing or talking.

At the same time, Australian scientists conducted experiments in the dark, and meanwhile, it is known that ultraviolet light kills viruses.

Previous laboratory studies have already found that SARS-CoV-2 can survive on banknotes and glass surfaces for up to two to three days, and on plastic and steel for up to six.

But now scientists from CSIRO have found that the coronavirus is much more tenacious. At room temperature, it can live up to four weeks on smooth surfaces such as plastic cards, paper banknotes, and glass smartphone screens. A common influenza virus, by comparison, survives up to 17 days under the same conditions.

“By understanding how long the virus actually remains viable on surfaces, we can more accurately predict and contain its spread and better protect the public,” said CSIRO chief executive Dr Larry Marshall.

However, former director of Cardiff University's Cold Research Centre, Professor Ron Eccles, criticized the Australians' work, saying the suggestion that the virus could live on surfaces for 28 days "instills unfounded fear in people".

“Viruses are transferred to surfaces from dirty fingers and droplets of mucus from coughs and sneezes, and in this study fresh mucus was not considered as a mechanism for the spread of the virus,” explains Professor Eccles. — Meanwhile, such fresh mucus serves as a hostile environment for viruses, since it contains many white cells that produce enzymes that destroy viruses, and may also contain antibodies and other elements that neutralize these viruses. Therefore, from my point of view, infectious viruses contained in mucus on surfaces can live at most for hours, but not for days.”

On the subject: WHO: there may be 20 times more people infected with coronavirus than officially recognized

University of California professor of medicine Monica Gandhi said the coronavirus is not transmitted through surfaces.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, many people were afraid of secondary transmission, but now we know that the reason for the spread is not because you touch surfaces and your eyes, but because you are close to a carrier of viruses, from whom they fly out of the nose and mouth , although they themselves, as a rule, don’t even know about it,” explained Professor Gandhi.

Wash your hands often, but so do your smartphone screens

COVID-19 spreads mainly through airborne droplets. Scientists have already found that infection in this way is possible within more than three hours after the virus enters the air. Much less was known about the ability of viruses on surfaces to remain infectious.

In particular, the assessment of the virus survival on steel surfaces gave a very wide range of results: from 3 to 14 days at room temperature.

The authors of the new study wanted to find out how long the virus remains viable on glass, paper and plastic banknotes and steel. They found that it lives much longer at room temperature than previously thought.

Moreover, the experiments were carried out under conditions favorable to the survival of the virus - in the dark and at constant humidity and temperature, which practically does not happen in real life. When the temperature was raised to 40 degrees, the viruses did not survive even a day. In addition, viruses felt better on a flat, smooth surface, and on fabrics, for example, after 14 days there was no trace of them left.

Be that as it may, experts point out that no one has canceled the golden rule of constant hand washing, but to this we must add the need to wipe the screens of smartphones more often.

At the same time, scientists have found a link between the SARS-Cov-2 tendency to persist better on steel surfaces at low temperatures and COVID-19 outbreaks in meat factories and refrigerated storage facilities around the world.

CSIRO researchers also emphasize that based on their experiments, it can be concluded that viruses are able to persist on fresh and frozen food.

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