Study: SARS-CoV-2 survives on the skin for up to 9 hours. Use hand sanitizer to inactivate it

Reporter : Wang Lan / Editor: Zhang Xinyan / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2020/10/21/a102967968.html / Direct translation

 Japanese researchers have discovered that SARS-CoV-2 (CCP virus), the virus that causes covid, can survive on the skin for up to 9 hours, which is nearly 5 of the influenza virus. This also indicates that you need to wash your hands frequently to prevent infection.

According to CTV, the new study was published in the Journal of Scientific Infectious Diseases earlier this month. The study reported that, by contrast, the virus that causes influenza can survive on the skin for about two hours.

The research report states, "Compared with IAV (Influenza A virus), SARS-CoV-2 survives on human skin for 9 hours, which increases the risk of contact transmission, thereby accelerating the pandemic."

In order to ensure that the test subjects are not infected by the CCP virus, researchers at Kyoto Prefectural Medical University in Japan used skin samples from human autopsy samples. The sample was collected about one day after death. Compared with other human organs, the skin can maintain its function even 24 hours after death.

Researchers report that the  virus survived on human skin samples for 9.04 hours, compared to 1.82 hours for influenza A virus. When these viruses are mixed with mucus from the upper respiratory tract to release virus particles in a way that simulates coughing or sneezing, CCP virus survives on the skin even longer, lasting about 11 hours.

However, the two viruses will be inactivated within 15 seconds after applying an alcohol-based disinfectant (hand sanitizer) containing 80% ethanol.

The study said: "The longer life span of SARS-CoV-2 on the skin increases the risk of contact transmission. However, maintaining hand hygiene can reduce this risk."

The researchers pointed out that the study did not consider the “infectious quantity” of SARS-CoV-2, which means that it did not examine the number of virus particles required to infect someone by contacting infected skin.

The study also used the virus on other surfaces, including stainless steel, heat-resistant glass, and plastic. Researchers found that CCP virus can remain active on these surfaces for 58 to 85 hours, while the flu virus survived for about 6 to 11 hours.

The research report said that on all the tested surfaces, the survival time of the virus was much longer than that of the flu virus, but the researchers admitted that these results are similar to previous studies.

The results of the study support the current public health recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) to avoid infection, wash hands frequently and avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth.