CORONAVIRUS - LIFE SPAN

Coronavirus

Life span

Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine conducted by American scientists suggests that the new coronavirus (Covid 19) can live in the air for several hours and on some surfaces for as long as 2-3 days. They tested the virus by spraying into the air by a nebulizer mimicking the coughing action of an infected person. They found that it could be detected up to a minimum of  3 hours later in the air, up to 4 hours on copper surfaces, up to 24 hours on cardboard and 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel surfaces. The longevity of the virus was determined by studying the decay time or half-life of the virus, which is the time taken for it to reduce in 50% of tissue culture infectious dose per litre of air. It was determined that the virus stayed on cardboard, stainless steel and plastic for the longest period, in comparison to copper and aerosol droplets.

On average, the half-life of the virus on plastic surface was the highest, with an average of 15.9 hours (high 19.2 hours), copper was lower 3.4 hours (high 5.11 hours) and stainless steel was 13.1 hours (high 16.1 hours). No research was conducted on fabric and that exposure to the sun for 2 hours reduced the half-life. The study also suggests that the virus can spread through the air, from touching things that were contaminated by those who are infected, and through direct human contact.

This, the coronavirus could be detected up to a minimum of 3 hours later in the air, up to 4 hours on copper surfaces, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel surfaces.

(Indebted to an article published by Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh dated 20th March 2020)

KV George

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