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The Covid-19 virus remains active on human skin for nine hours, Japanese researchers have found, in a discovery they said showed the need for frequent hand washing to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
As per study pathogen that causes the flu survives on human skin for approximately 1.8 hours—far lesser in comparison to SARS-CoV-2.
Study states, “The 9-h survival of SARS-CoV-2 on human skin may increase the risk of contact transmission in comparison with IAV (influenza A virus), thus accelerating the pandemic. Proper hand hygiene is important to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections.”
Moreover, both SARS-CoV-2 and IAV in the mucus/medium on human skin were completely inactivated within 15 seconds by ethanol treatment.
The study is in line with World Health Organization and CDC guidance for regular and thorough hand washing to limit transmission of the virus, which has infected nearly 41 million people around the world since it first emerged in China late last year.
Also read: CDC says the virus can spread beyond six feet in Indoor air
The study was published in this month in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal.