Coronaviruses can remain on surfaces for up to 9 days, study finds

Coronaviruses can persist on inanimate surfaces and remain infectious at room temperature for up to nine days, according to a study published Feb. 6 in the Journal of Hospital Infection.

Researchers analyzed 22 studies on coronaviruses, including literature on SARS and MERS. An analysis revealed that the viruses normally survive on surfaces between four and five days, but can remain infectious for up to nine days. Low temperatures and high air humidity increase the lifespan.

In human-to-human transmission, coronaviruses incubate for two to 10 days and can spread via airborne droplets and contaminated hands or other surfaces. However, surface disinfection procedures using 62 to 71 percent ethanol, 0.5 percent hydrogen peroxide or 0.1 percent sodium hypochlorite are effective against coronaviruses within 1 minute.

"Different coronaviruses were analysed, and the results were all similar," Eike Steinmann, study author and head of the Department for Molecular and Medical Virology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany, said in the news release.

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