From the moment you turn off your morning alarm, to the time you hit the pillow, your life is full of surfaces. Swiping through your phone, opening doors, putting in your PIN – there are many you don’t think twice about touching.
But SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, will likely change the way we all think about, and interact with, surfaces forever. Our peer-reviewed study published in Virology Journal reveals new information about the virus and how it behaves on surfaces.
Understanding SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces
From analysing sewage to testing face masks, our research has been contributing to the global battle against COVID-19.
At this stage of the pandemic, researchers do not fully understand the role contaminated surfaces play in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. To improve our understanding of how this new virus behaves, our researchers studied the survival rates of infectious SARS-CoV-2, dried in an artificial mucous solution, on six common surfaces.
We conducted the experiment at three different temperatures, 200C, 300C and 400C, with the relative humidity kept at 50 per cent. The surfaces used in the study were stainless steel, glass, vinyl, paper and polymer banknotes, and cotton cloth. These are examples of high contact surface areas such as glass on touchscreens and stainless steel doorknobs.
A droplet of fluid containing the virus at concentrations similar to levels observed in infected patients was dried on multiple small test surfaces and left for up to 28 days. At various time periods, the virus was recovered and placed in tissue culture cells to observe if any infectious virus remained.
Impact of temperature on virus
At 20°C, the virus was extremely robust. We were able to recover infectious material after 28 days from the smooth (non-porous) surfaces. These are stainless steel, glass, vinyl and paper and polymer banknotes.
The length of time infectious virus was able to survive on the porous material (cotton cloth) was much shorter. On cloth, we were unable to detect any viable virus past 14 days.
At 30°C infectious virus did not survive beyond seven days on stainless steel, money (polymer banknotes) and glass. However, on vinyl and cotton cloth, infectious material was not detectable beyond three days.
At 40°C virus was inactivated much faster. Infectious SARS-CoV-2 was detectable for less than 16 hours for cotton cloth. While on glass, paper and polymer notes, and stainless steel it was detectable for up to 24 hours, and 48 hours for vinyl.
Infographic explaining COVID-19 on surfaces.
How long SARS-CoV-2 survived on five different surfaces at three temperatures, 20°C, 30°C and 40°C.
How many particles can cause an infection?
It generally takes more than one virus particle to infect a person and make them sick. We call the number of virus particles that can cause infection the “infectious dose”. This dosage differs between different viruses and is usually quite large.
Researchers do not yet know the infectious dose of SARS-CoV-2. But, from our knowledge of related viruses, we estimate it is around 300 particles. If the virus was placed (on smooth surfaces) at standard mucus concentrations of an infected person, enough virus would easily survive for two weeks to be able to infect another person.
Further research on this topic is necessary. However, our findings indicate the 28-day sample would not contain enough viable virus to infect a person.
Whether virus particles on a surface can infect someone is dependent on several conditions. Outside of the body, SARS-CoV-2 virus particles gradually become inactive over time. The time it takes for viruses to naturally inactivate depends on many factors. The makeup of the virus itself, the type of surface it is on and whether the virus is liquid or dried can impact the time it remains viable. Environmental conditions such as temperature, exposure to sunlight and humidity also play a part.
Image Credit: Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (ACDP)
Post by Amanda Scott, NA CEO. Follow her on twitter @tantriclens
Thanks to Heinz V. Hoenen. Follow him on twitter: @HeinzVHoenen

News
New material discovery could revolutionize roll-out of global vaccinations
New raw vaccine materials that could make vaccines more accessible, sustainable, and ethical have been discovered. The results of the research have been published in Polymers. Adjuvants are vaccine ingredients that boost a person's immune response [...]
Scientists Develop Incredibly Lightweight Material 4 Times Stronger Than Steel
Researchers developed a light yet strong material by combining two unexpected ingredients—DNA and glass. Working at the nanoscale provides scientists with a deep understanding and precision in crafting and analyzing materials. In broader-scale production, and even [...]
New Implant Doctors Hope Will Cut Cancer Deaths in Half
Researchers at Houston's Rice University are developing an implant that could diminish deaths caused by cancer by half. The device will contain synthetically nurtured human cells and be embedded with sensors to keep track of cancer [...]
Machine learning helps predict drugs’ favorite subcellular haunts
Most drugs are small molecules that bind firmly to a specific target—some molecule in human cells that is involved in a disease—in order to work. For example, a cancer drug's target might be a [...]
Nanotechnology Breakthrough Could Help Treat Blindness
Scientists utilize nanotechnology to address a prevalent cause of vision loss. Scientists have discovered a way to use nanotechnology to create a 3D ‘scaffold’ to grow cells from the retina. This breakthrough could lead [...]
Decoding Women’s Health: Artificial Intelligence Revolutionizes PCOS Diagnosis
NIH study reviews 25 years of data and finds AI/ML can detect common hormone disorder. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can effectively detect and diagnose Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), which is the most common [...]
Surprising Discovery Could Explain How Coronaviruses Jump Species
New insights are enhancing scientists’ efforts to stay ahead of COVID-19 and the next pandemic. Unexpected new insights into the ways COVID-19 infects cells could shed light on the virus’s adept ability to jump from one species to another [...]
A blood test for long Covid is possible, a study suggests
Scientists can now show key differences in the blood of those who recover from Covid — and those who don't. More than three years into the pandemic, the millions of people who have suffered [...]
FedEx for your cells: this biological delivery service could treat disease
Researchers want to know why cells produce tiny packages called vesicles — and whether these bundles could be used for therapy. Graça Raposo was a young postdoc in the Netherlands in 1996 when she [...]
New study on the genetic magnetization of living bacteria shows great potential for biomedicine
Magnetic bacteria possess extraordinary capabilities due to the magnetic nanoparticles, the magnetosomes, which are concatenated inside their cells. A research team at the University of Bayreuth has now transferred all of the approximately 30 [...]
Ultrathin Nanotech Promises to Help Tackle Antibiotic Resistance
Researchers have invented a nano-thin superbug-slaying material that could one day be integrated into wound dressings and implants to prevent or heal bacterial infections. The innovation – which has undergone advanced pre-clinical trials – [...]
Researchers Discover New Mnemomic Networks in the Brain
The medial temporal lobe (MTL) houses the human memory system. Broadly, it contains the hippocampus, parahippocampal cortex, perirhinal cortex, and entorhinal cortex. “One big challenge in studying the MTL is its great anatomical variability [...]
The Surprising Origin of a Deadly Hospital Infection
C. diff might not originate from external transmission but rather from within the infected patient themselves. Hospital staff dedicate significant effort to safeguard patients from infections during their hospital stay. Through practices ranging from [...]
Google AI breakthrough – huge step in finding genes that cause diseases
Google says it has made a significant step in identifying disease-causing genes, which could help spot rare genetic disorders. A new model named AlphaMissense is able to confidently classify 89 per cent of all [...]
New Study: Everyday Pleasures Can Boost Cognitive Performance
MINDWATCH study reveals cognitive peaks with everyday pleasures. Listening to music and drinking coffee are the sorts of everyday pleasures that can impact a person’s brain activity in ways that improve cognitive performance, including [...]
Moderna reveals new highly targeted COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1283
Moderna has developed a new and improved version of its COVID-19 vaccine. The unique formulation (mRNA-1283) reduces the vaccine's content from the full-length SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to a narrowly focused encoding of just two [...]