Coronavirus can live on common surfaces for nine days - how to kill it

biotech healthcare

When a new pathogen wreaks havoc on the planet, scientists from across the globe race to understand how it behaves and spreads. Now, scientists have found that the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) can survive on metal, plastic, and glass for as long as nine days. A team of scientists from the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) and the Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine at the Greifswald University Hospital compiled comprehensive findings from 22 studies on coronaviruses and studied how the pathogen behaves. This study, published in The Journal of Hospital Infection , highlights the importance of preventing infection by knowing how long the virus can survive on common surfaces and how to kill it. Coronaviruses, like other disease-causing microorganisms, can linger on common things that people hold. The virus can spread through hands and surfaces, including door handles, telephone receivers, elevator buttons, call buttons, bedside tables, and anything patients in hospitals frequently touch. Study looks at the persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and its inactivation with biocidal agents. Image Credit: asiandelight / Shutterstock Coronavirus can stay for nine days The team has found the novel coronavirus can stay up to nine days on common surfaces, based on their comprehensive analysis of studies about similar pathogens, such as the SARS coronavirus and MERS-CoV. The results show that the viruses can persist or survive on surfaces and remain infectious at room temperature for nine days, with an average lifespan of four to five days. The team also found that low temperatures and high air humidity levels further boost the coronavirus’s lifespan. The best way to kill coronaviruses The best way to combat coronaviruses staying on common surfaces, such as glass, metal, and plastic, is by cleaning them with a solution that’s 62 percent to 72 percent ethanol, 0.5 percent hydrogen peroxide, or 0.1 percent sodium hypochlorite within one minute of contamination. If these agents are applied at the right time and concentrations, they can reduce the number of infectious coronaviruses by four log steps within one minute. “As no specific therapies are available for 2019-nCoV, early containment and prevention of further spread will be crucial to stop the ongoing outbreak and to control this novel infectious thread,” the researchers wrote on the paper. Related Stories