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CLEAN SURFACES: Instructor Jamie Benedik cleans the weights at Gold’s Gym Islip in New York on August 24. According to the photographer, the gym is closed for cleaning between 1pm and 2pm every day. Photo: AL BELLO / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA
According to a new Australian study, the coronavirus can survive on surfaces such as mobile screens and stainless steel for up to 28 days, under controlled conditions. A British professor criticizes the study.
The Australian Institute of Public Research CSIRO study was conducted under controlled conditions in the laboratory, with stable humidity, a temperature of 20 degrees and in the dark.
Therefore, it is not entirely certain that the virus works as well in the real world, where conditions are less favorable to viruses, writes the BBC.
The researchers behind the study, published in the Virology Journal, also note that it is not yet clear how important surfaces are when it comes to spreading the pandemic. writes the Sydney Morning Herald. Most people become infected through airborne droplets because, for example, they are near an infected person who sneezes or coughs.
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Points to mobiles and ATMs
“It’s important to know how long this virus can last, to know how often we need to disinfect things and what kind of risk common surfaces pose,” said Trevor Drew, director of the Australian Centers for Disease Control at Australian ABC.
By comparison, the common flu virus has been shown to survive under the same controlled conditions for 17 days, he and the other researchers behind the study wrote.
Previous research from the US has shown that the coronavirus could be transmitted on surfaces such as plastic and stainless steel for three days.
According to the Australian study, the coronavirus can survive longer on smooth, non-porous surfaces than on porous materials such as clothing.
“Touch-screen devices such as cell phones, ATMs, and airport check-in ATMs are surfaces that are heavily touched, may not be washed regularly enough, and may pose a risk of infection,” says Drew.
The study also showed that the life of the virus is shorter when the temperature rises. In the researchers’ studies, for example, the virus stopped being infected after 24 hours at a temperature of 40 degrees on certain surfaces.
Criticize the study: – It spreads through mucus
Professor Ron Eccles, former director of the Common Cold Center at Cardiff University in the UK, believes the study creates unnecessary fear in the population.
“Viruses spread to surfaces through mucus in coughs, sneezes and dirty fingers, and this study did not use fresh human mucus as a tool to spread the virus,” he told the BBC, adding that human mucus Cool was a “hostile environment”. for viruses.
– In my opinion, infectious viruses will only stay in mucus on surfaces for a few hours, not days, he says.
In July, Rutgers University professor of microbiology Emanuel Goldman said the risk of spreading infections through surfaces is very small. Last week, University of California professor of medicine Monica Gandhi said the coronavirus does not spread through surfaces, the BBC writes.
