Scientists have been trying to determine how long the coronavirus can actually survive on various surfaces, and with some research, they have discovered that COVID-19 can be stable for a long period of time on surgical face masks for at least 7 days.
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The virus can still be detected on the outer layer of the mask
As the coronavirus or COVID-19 continue to wreak havoc all over the world, it is shown in studies that it can survive on surgical masks as scientists have claimed. It has been thoroughly studied to further understand just how long it can last and remain contagious on different surfaces and under various conditions.
Research in Hong Kong has found that a compelling level of infectious virus can still be distinguished on the outer layers of surgical masks even after a week.
The virus dies after 24 hours on cardboard and printing papers
Though with all of that said, U.S scientists have reported that COVID-19 was not viable after 24 hours of being on cardboard surfaces and postal services, making them free of risks from coronavirus.
Printing papers or newspapers can actually kill the virus in three hours as experts have claimed. According to Daily Mail, these medical experts have also announced that infection from delivered goods is at a lower risk.
The World Health Organization has revealed today that people are not likely to infect or hard commercial goods, especially those that are shipped. WHO says that "The likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperature is also low."
Alex Chin along with some other colleagues at the University of Hong Kong found the novel coronavirus highly stable at a temperature of 4°C at an extended period of time. If untreated at room temperature, it can last for as long as seven days at high levels, but will eventually be eliminated after 14 days.
At a body temperature of 27°C and while incubated, it can abate after over 24 hours and will become undetectable. Chin has also said that no infectious virus could actually be encountered after 30 minutes of induction at least 56°C or a five minutes incubation at 70°C
When it comes to tissue papers and printing papers, the same results have stood out. No infectious virus can survive after three hours of incubation.
According to Daily Mail, George Lomonossoff, a virologist told BBC Radio Scotland that low-risk of these infections are on newspapers. It is considered to still be sterile caused by the printing and production process.
Another research paper that has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine has compared the coronavirus with SARS. This previously killed 774 people 20 years ago.
Written on the paper, researchers have said that SARS-CoV-2 was more stable on stainless steel and plastic as compared to copper and cardboard. The virus was still detectable for up to 72 hours.
Research about this matter has been published on the pre-print site called medRxiv.
The global death toll has risen this week with regards to COVID-19. It has skyrocketed to a massive 24,000 deaths with more than half a million cases that are confirmed.
