New Delhi: A recent study published in medical journal The Lancet Microbe, suggests that novel coronavirus can be killed in extreme heat but it takes 14 days for its death at room temperature. A team from Hong Kong University studied the characteristics of the virus about how long it takes for household disinfectants, bleach, and soap to kill the virus.
According to the study published, the novel coronavirus was stable at low temperature, but it exhibited sensitivity to heat. The virus showed only a minimal reduction in quantity when kept at 4°C for 14 days, but at room temperature of 22°C with 65 per cent humidity, the virus disappeared after 14 days.
But when the virus was exposed to extreme temperature of 70°C, it was killed under five minutes.
The research also discovered that the virus tended to disintegrate quicker on surfaces that had texture such as paper, wood or cloth.
As per the study coronavirus can stay on treated wood and clothes for up to two days, but it was not detected on printed papers and tissue papers after three hours.
The virus tend to last on smoother surface more. On surfaces like glass the virus was detected for four days, but on plastic and stainless steel, it remained for up to seven days.
The research paper claimed that, “a detectable level of infectious virus could still be present on the outer layer of a surgical mask on day 7”.
The suggestion about survival of virus on mast poses many risk as the number of COVID-19 positive cases tend to increase daily. Many people are habitual of touching their masks constantly, which transfer the virus to their hands.
Also, the virus was found stable in varied range of pH conditions. The study suggest that at normal room temperatures, bleach and common disinfectants can destroy the virus in five minutes. But hand soaps are not that effective.
The study was published in the medical journal The Lancet Microbe on April 02, 2020.