SARS-Cov-2 Can Survive on Surfaces for up to 28 Days, Says New Study

A new study suggests from Australia's national science agency that SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, can remain infectious for 28 days on surfaces like phone screens and banknotes.

That is longer than previously thought in which studies found that the virus could stop being infectious within 24 hours at 40 degrees Celsius on some surfaces, CGTN reports.

But according to some studies, UV light can kill coronavirus, and experts already debunked the claim that people can easily get infected with COVID-19 by touching infected surfaces.

According to a previous Science Times report, CDC has emphasized that it is not easily spread by touching surfaces or objects. The health agency's website clarified that it is not the primary way of getting infected by the deadly virus. However, SARS-CoV-2 has been proven to be airborne.

A new study published last week in the Virology Journal demonstrated that it can still be alive for 28 days to help experts formulate mitigation procedures to prevent further infection cases.

SARS-CoV-2 Remains "Extremely Robust" on Surfaces for 28 Days

According to previous laboratory results, SARS-CoV-2 can only remain infectious on banknotes and glass for two to three days, and six days for plastics and stainless steel.

However, new laboratory tests from CSIRO found that the virus can remain "extremely robust" on smooth surfaces like phone screens, plastics, and banknotes when at a 20-degree-Celsius temperature, equivalent to room temperature. In contrast, the flu virus can survive for 17 days in the same conditions.

Moreover, the study also found that the virus can survive in less time at a hotter temperature. It stops being infectious within 24 hours at 40 degrees Celsius on other surfaces. They also found that the virus tends to live longer on non-porous and smooth materials than on clothes, which are porous materials and BBC reports.

But this new study is criticized by some experts like professor Ron Eccles, the former director of Common Cold Centre at Cardiff University.

According to him, the new study only causes unnecessary fear in the public as it used viral samples not fresh from the mucus of humans, which is the "vehicle to spread the virus." Human mucus contains white blood cells that produce enzymes that destroy the viruses within a few hours.

Furthermore, Emanuel Goldman, a microbiology professor at Rutgers University, published a paper in the Lancet in July that says the same with CDC that there is a tiny chance that transmission of the virus via inanimate objects and surfaces will happen. He added that tests done in the laboratory had been tailored so that it only has little resemblance to real-life scenarios.

Significance of the New Study

CSIRO chief executive Dr. Larry Marshall said that the study aims to inform experts and the people in general how long the virus could survive on surfaces to more accurately predict and mitigate the virus.

Also, the study authors said that the virus's ability to survive on cold surfaces and stainless steel explains how outbreaks in meat processing and cold storage facilities were possible. In the previous months, there have been many reports of workers in those industries that got infected, and experts believed that the virus might have been transmitted via frozen food or on surfaces.