Study Reveals SARS-Cov-2 to Survive on Skin Five Times Longer Compared to Flu Virus

Feb, 2021 - By SMI

According to a new study led by a group of researchers from Japan have revealed that coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (the strain of virus  that causes COVID-19) remains active on skin of the human skin for nine hours, and suggested about the importance and the need of frequent hand wash, in order to fight against COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers also revealed that the pathogen that causes the flu remains active on human skin for about 1.8 hours, in comparison to SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, researchers also highlighted that prolonged (nine-hour) endurance of SARS-CoV-2 on human skin might heighten the risk of contact transmission in comparison to IAV (influenza A virus), thereby augmenting the pandemic.

In the study, research team collected skin from the autopsy specimens and examined them about one day after death and then they applied ethanol. Researchers observed that both the SARS-CoV-2 and the flu virus were inactivated within 15 seconds of applying ethanol that are found in hand sanitizers. This further indicates that elongated survival of SARS-CoV-2 on the skin augments the contact-transmission risk; however, hand hygiene eliminates this risk.

According to the WHO guidelines regular and thorough hand washing is vital to restrict the transmission of the virus. Moreover the COVID pandemic has infected around 40 million people across the globe, which emerged first in China at the end of the year 2019.