According to Japanese research, the coronavirus remains active on human skin for nine hours and found that frequent hand wash is crucial to combat the novel Covid-19 pandemic.
The research further shows that the pathogen that causes the flu survives on human skin for about 1.8 hours, by comparison. The study was published this month in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal.
“The nine-hour survival of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus strain that causes Covid-19) on human skin may increase the risk of contact transmission in comparison with IAV (influenza A virus), thus accelerating the pandemic,” it said. The research team tested skin collected from autopsy specimens, about one day after death.
It further shows that the influenza virus and coronavirus become inactivated within 15 seconds if one applies ethanol that is actually used in hand sanitizers. “The longer survival of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus on the skin increases contact-transmission risk; however, hand hygiene can reduce this risk,” the study said.
According to the World Health Organization’s guidance, frequent and regular hand washing limits transmission of the virus that has infected almost 40 million people around the globe.
After the emergence of the virus from China, Wuhan, the whole world is now suffering and the US and India are the most affected countries of the whole world. The US with the highest number of positive cases and the highest number of fatalities while India comes on the 2nd number.
Read more: US could’ve saved $10 trillion with COVID response as good as Pakistan: economist Lawrence Summers
Pakistan has become a successful country in eradicating the disease out of the country. Its strategies and efficiency which are praised the world over have worked a lot in making the country virus-free.
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