COVID-19 can survive on mobile phones and bank notes for 28 days, researchers claim

COVID-19 can linger on surfaces twice longer than initially thought, including phone screens, bank notes and stainless steel, research claims.

Initial studies found the virus only lived up to two weeks but new research from Australian scientists has concluded it can survive up to 28 days.

Researchers at Australia's Science Agency, CSIRO, and the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP) in Geelong found the virus survived longer at lower temperatures, as well as on non-porous or smooth surfaces such as glass, stainless steel and vinyl.

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It also lasts longer on paper banknotes than plastic banknotes.

Dr Debbie Eagles is Deputy Director of ACDP, said: "At 20 degrees Celsius, which is about room temperature, we found that the virus was extremely robust, surviving for 28 days on smooth surfaces such as glass found on mobile phone screens and plastic banknotes.

"For context, similar experiments for Influenza A have found that it survived on surfaces for 17 days, which highlights just how resilient SARS-CoV-2 is.

"Together, we hope this suite of solutions from science will break down the barriers between us, and shift focus to dealing with specific virus hotspots so we can get the economy back on track."

CSIRO Professor Trevor Drew, told Today they were surprised at the findings.

"What we wanted to do is really to highlight just how the potential for this virus to be transmitted by contact rather than just through direct exposure to someone who is infected," he said.

"What we did, we seeded all these different surfaces and monitored them over time and saw how much living virus we could get back from the surfaces.

"We were really quite surprised… that it was almost twice as long to detect the virus.

"That said, we have to also bear in mind the fact that you have to be infected by a reasonable amount of virus. 

"It's unlikely that a single virus particle would infect you."

However, he said while the virus can't penetrate intact skin, it could infect people who, for example, lick fingers to open bags in the supermarket or touching things on public transport.

"It's these behaviours we have to try and clamp down and make people alert to," he said.

"The classic mantra is still there. Wash your hands regularly. Don't put your hands near your mouth or eyes because the virus can also infect you through the mucus membranes in the eyes." 

Researchers also found details about how temperatures affects the virus.

"We found that - as an example if you drop the temperature down to about six degrees in theory the virus would last 10 times as long," Prof. Drew, said.

CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall said the research builds on the national science agency's other COVID-19 work.

"Establishing how long the virus really remains viable on surfaces enables us to more accurately predict and mitigate its spread, and do a better job of protecting our people," Dr Marshall said.

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