USA – A recent study suggest that the Coronavirus can last up to three days on some surfaces.
As Coronavirus ramps up, cleaning supplies are disappearing off shelves leaving the question about every handrail, pizza box and newspaper they touch.
How long can the virus survive on surfaces? Ultimately we dont know for sure because its such a new virus but a study by a preprint database medRxiv on March 11 (has not yet yet been peer-reviewed) says the virus can remain viable in the air for up to 3 hours, on copper for up to 4 hours, on cardboard and paper up to 24 hours and on plastic and stainless steel up to 2 to 3 days.
A second study published in Febuary The Journal of Hospital Infection analyzed several dozen previously published papers on human coronaviruses (not the current one) said that if this current strain mimics those it can stay on glass, metal and plastic for up to nine days.
The good thing in these studies is that all of these coronaviruses could be effectively wiped by household disinfectants with 62-71% ethanol, 0.5% hydrogen peroxide or 0.1% sodium hypochlorite (bleach) can “efficiently” inactivate coronaviruses within a minute, according to the study.
According to the CDC the virus is likely more commonly spread by close contact and respiratory droplets from flu symptoms such as coughs and sneezes than from surfaces, this is why there is such a heavy push to isolate groups of people.
