It is extremely unlikely that you will catch a coronavirus because you caught a contaminated banknote or coin, says new research.
The risk of transmitting the coronavirus through contact with cash – banknotes and coins – is very low, according to a new study conducted by a special expert from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Department of Medicine and Molecular Virology of the German Ruhr-Universitat University in Boch.
From the beginning of the pandemic until today, the question of how long the virus remains on the money has occupied experts and not. The latest study answers another, very specific question: How many contaminants can be transferred from a banknote or coin in real time?
The researchers compared how long different concentrations of coronavirus “live” on different coins and banknotes, compared to a stainless steel surface.
The findings are rather reassuring
While in stainless steel the infectious coronavirus is still present after seven days, in the banknote e.g. of ten euros has completely disappeared in three days.
As for the coins, the virus is no longer detectable (hence not contagious) after six days on the 10 cent coin, after two days on the one euro coin and after just one hour on the five minute coin.
The rapid disappearance of the five minutes is due to the fact that it is made of copper, on which it is known that viruses live less.
Although the virus can survive for days, especially on banknotes, infecting a person just because they caught them requires a high viral load, something that usually does not exist on them. “Under realistic circumstances, coronavirus infection from cash is very unlikely,” said lead researcher Daniel Todd.
As other studies have shown, in the vast majority of cases Covid-19 infection has occurred aerogenously. Despite the initial fears, surface infections seem to be almost non-existent.
Although the study was about the alpha variant of the coronavirus (“British”), the researchers estimate that the Delta variant (“Indian”) behaves accordingly on money.
source: In2life
