New Study Finds That COVID-19 Can Live On Phone Screens For Nearly A Month
Clean your phone, it's gross!
According to a new study by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, COVID-19 can survive and remain infectious on certain surfaces for almost one month. In comparison, the influenza A virus can survive on surfaces for 17 days.
The Australian study, which was conducted in a controlled environment, found that on surfaces such as glass, like the kind used for smartphones, the virus was able to remain infectious for 28 days. Similar results were found for items like plastic banknotes.
The findings reinforce “the importance of washing hands and sanitizing where possible and certainly wiping down surfaces that may be in contact with the virus,” said Shane Riddell, the lead researcher of the study published in Virology Journal.
The research found that the virus survived longer on smooth surfaces compared to surfaces like cloth. It also survived longer on plastic banknotes than on paper money.
Because direct sunlight has been shown to kill the virus, the experiments were done in the dark to remove the impact of ultraviolet light.
The study also found that the virus survived longer at cooler temperatures.
