The public is being urged to clean their smartphone screens with alcohol wipes twice a day to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Covid-19, which has infected almost 80,000 people globally, has the ability to lurk on the flat surface for almost a week unless it is disinfected, researchers have claimed.

“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,” said William Keevil, a professor of environmental healthcare at the University of Southampton.

Surfaces like glass, which smartphone screens are typically made of, are relatively inert and an ideal environment for viruses to thrive, according to Prof Keevil.

Peter Hall, professor of public health and health systems at the University of Waterloo, claims smartphones are “portable petri dishes”.

He suggests people should clean their phones twice daily; once at lunch and once at dinner time.

“Any surface that is contaminated by respiratory secretions, and that could be directly by coughing or sneezing or just breathing over something, is potentially infectious,” said Mike Barer, a professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Leicester.