Coronavirus can stay up to four weeks on your mobile screens, banknotes: Study

According to the latest research, coronavirus can remain on surfaces such as banknotes, phone screens, and stainless steel for four weeks.

Touchscreen devices such as mobile phones, bank ATMs, supermarket self-serve checkouts and airport check-in kiosks pose a transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2 as they are not regularly cleaned, the researchers at the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness said.

Though previous researches have revealed that SARS-Cov-2 can survive for two to three days, research by the Australian center published in Virology Journal, found the virus to be extremely robust. The virus can stay for 28 days when kept at room temperature and in the dark.

Likewise, the flu virus can survive in the same circumstances for 17 days. The study also revealed COVID-19 survives for a longer time in cooler weather as compared to a hotter temperature. The virus stopped being infectious within 24 hours at 40C on some surfaces, the research revealed.

The study further explained the coronavirus outbreak being linked to meat and cold storage facilities because of the survival rate of the virus on stainless steel at a cooler temperature. "Blood and oils associated with fresh meat and fish processing and handling may also help to preserve the virus," Trevor Drew, the center’s director and another co-author said.

This finding supports other researches that the virus remains on fresh and frozen food as well.

Scientists at the Australian government laboratory have also found that SARS-CoV-2 survives longer on nonporous or smooth surfaces as compared with porous complex surfaces, such as cotton.

The study involved drying COVID-19 in an artificial mucus on different surfaces, at concentrations similar to those reported in samples from infected patients, and then re-isolating the virus over a month.

The study was also carried out in the dark, to remove the effect of ultraviolet light, as research has demonstrated direct sunlight can rapidly inactivate the virus, Bloomberg reported.