COVID-19 Survives On Skin Five Times Longer Than Flu

By Nsunjo Erica

A new Japanese study has found that the coronavirus remains active on human skin for nine hours while the pathogen that causes the flu survives on human skin for about 1.8 hours by comparison.

“The nine-hour survival of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus strain that causes COVID-19) on human skin may increase the risk of contact transmission in comparison with IAV (influenza A virus), thus accelerating the pandemic,” the report said.

Japanese researchers in a discovery said this showed the need for frequent hand washing and sanitizing to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The longer survival of SARS-CoV-2 on the skin increases contact-transmission risk; however, hand hygiene can reduce this risk,” the study said.

The study also showed that both the coronavirus and the flu virus are inactivated within 15 seconds by applying ethanol, which is used in hand sanitizers.

The study backs World Health Organization guidance for regular and thorough hand washing to limit transmission of the virus, which has infected nearly 40 million people around the world since it first emerged in China late last year.

Current COVID-19 Stats Update

According to the data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University, global COVID-19 cases have surpassed 38 million as deaths surpassed 1 Million.

The global number of confirmed COVID-19 cases count as of 14^th October 2020 reached 38,006,121, with a total of 1,083,875 deaths worldwide as of 6:24 p.m. local time (2224 GMT), according to CSSE data

CSSE at Johns Hopkins University said the total caseload of the top three countries, the United States Of America, India, and Brazil combined accounted for more than half of the global cases, according to the tally.

Current Update On COVID-19 Vaccine

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Covid-19 vaccine may be ready by the end of this year, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

According to WHO Director-General, nine experimental vaccines are in the pipeline of the WHO-led COVAX global vaccine facility that aims to distribute two million doses by the end of 2021.

So far, some 168 countries have joined the COVAX facility but neither China, the United States nor Russia are among them. The Trump admiration has said it is relying instead on bilateral deals to secure supplies from vaccine makers.

Previously, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that over 8,000 Boeing 747s will be needed to ship a COVID-19 vaccine around the World and that this will be the “largest transport challenge ever”