Coronavirus can live on skin for 9 hours, researchers say

Researchers from the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in Japan found that the novel coronavirus can survive on human skin for approximately nine hours, which is significantly longer than the flu virus.

The study, published in a journal of Oxford Academic in Clinical Infectious Diseases on Oct. 3, was a joint effort among the university’s Department of Infectious Diseases, Department of Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and Department of Forensics Medicine aimed to highlight the importance of handwashing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since directly applying a highly contagious pathogen to the skin of a living human is dangerous, according to the study, human cadavers one day after death were used to conduct the test.

According to the researchers, the flu virus can survive on human skin for 1.8 hours.

“The 9-h survival of SARS-CoV-2 on human skin may increase the risk of contact transmission in comparison with IAV, thus accelerating the pandemic. Proper hand hygiene is important to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections,” according to the study.

Both the coronavirus and the flu virus on surfaces were completely eradicated after 15 seconds following the use of ethanol (80%), which is found in common hand sanitizers, according to the study.