TOKYO – The coronavirus remains active on human skin for nine hours, Japanese researchers have found, in a discovery that they said shows the need for frequent hand-washing to combat the pandemic.
The pathogen that causes the flu survives on human skin for about 1.8 hours by comparison, said the study published this month in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal.
“The nine-hour survival of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus strain that causes Covid-19) on human skin may increase the risk of contact transmission in comparison with IAV (Influenza A virus), thus accelerating the pandemic.”
The research team tested skin collected from autopsy specimens about one day after death.
Both Covid-19 and the flu virus are inactivated within 15 seconds by applying ethanol, which is used in hand sanitiser.
“The longer survival of SARS-CoV-2 on the skin increases contact-transmission risk. However, hand hygiene can reduce this risk,” said the study.
It backs World Health Organisation guidance for regular and thorough hand-washing to limit transmission of the virus, which has infected nearly 40 million people around the world since it first emerged in China late last year. – AFP, October 18, 2020
