As you know your mobile device picks up more bacteria from your hand. In 2012 the University of Arizona found that cell phones carry 10 times more bacteria than a toilet seat, largely because toilet seats are cleaned more frequently while smartphones are mainly overlooked.

Coronavirus can survive on hard surfaces such as phone screens for up to a week and offers a potential route of infection, scientists warn.

The hardy virus spreads via droplets released in coughs and sneezes and the residue can remain potent for seven days on surfaces such as handles and handsets.

Experts warn phones could be acting as a petri dish cultivating the killer microbe and say alcohol wipes should be used twice a day to disinfect the device.

Professor William Keevil, from the University of Southampton, told Metro: ‘You could be washing your hands, but if you start touching your smartphone screen and then touch your face that is a potential route of infection.’

According to the official data, the number of death toll from coronavirus exceeds 3,100.

Professor Peter Hall from the University of Waterloo said that phones should be cleaned twice a day, once at lunch and once at tea, to prevent further transmissions.

Alcohol wipes are best suited to kill the virus, but if you are using apple Apple phones the company recommends you to use a microfibre cloth and soapy water.

There is potential to catch the virus from a phone screen but it is far more likely to be passed via human-to-human contact.

However, smartphone companies have not given any universal comment on this matter.

Professor Francois Balloux, and Director of UCL Genetics Institute, UCL, said: ‘[Disinfecting phones] wouldn’t do any harm, but unless we share our phone with others, it is not obvious to me how disinfecting them could protect us, or limit the spread of covid-19.’

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