Coronavirus Can Survive In The Air For Three Hours
The killer coronavirus rapidly spreading around the world can survive in the air for three hours, scientists have found.
US government researchers, who worked with other experts, also found the deadly infection can live on surfaces for up to three days.
Tests showed the virus can survive on copper for four hours, cardboard for an entire day and up to 72 hours on plastic and steel.
The study comes after the World Health Organization last night finally declared the escalating global outbreak as a pandemic.
Almost 5,000 patients across the world have died and almost 130,000 people have been infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
The killer coronavirus rapidly spreading around the world can survive in the air for three hours, scientists have found.
US government researchers, who worked with other experts, also found the deadly infection can live on surfaces for up to three days.
Tests showed the virus can survive on copper for four hours, cardboard for an entire day and up to 72 hours on plastic and steel.
The study comes after the World Health Organization last night finally declared the escalating global outbreak as a pandemic.
Almost 5,000 patients across the world have died and almost 130,000 people have been infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
The new study, released online before publication in a journal – meaning that it has not yet been peer-reviewed, adds to the evidence.
Officials around the world have already launched hard-hitting campaigns urging the public to wash their hands to stop the coronavirus.
For the study – which is not the first to find the virus lives on surfaces, researchers used a nebulizer device to put samples of it into the air.
This imitates what might happen if an infected person coughed or made the virus airborne some other way, such as breathing.
They found that viable levels of the virus could be detected up to three hours later in the air and up to four hours on copper.
Results also showed it could be detected up to 24 hours after on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.
Similar results were obtained from tests they did on the virus that caused the 2003 SARS outbreak.
The findings have not been reviewed by other scientists yet and were posted on a site where researchers can quickly share their work before publication.
The tests were done at the National Institutes of Health's Rocky Mountain Lab in Hamilton, Montana.
It involved experts from NIH, Princeton University and the University of California, Los Angeles, with funding from the US government.
Other experts have welcomed the results of the study, with one saying: 'It's a solid piece of work that answers questions people have been asking.'
Julie Fischer, a microbiology professor at Georgetown University, added that people need to keep washing their hands to contain the crisis.
Study author Dr Neeltje van Doremalen said scientists are still looking into the best way to kill the virus.
But she added cleaning surfaces with solutions containing diluted bleach is likely to get rid of it.
Understanding the virus and how to destroy it – and doing so – are crucial to stopping the pandemic and controlling the illness.
[ By Mail Online ]
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