COVID-19 is proving again and again, day after day, that ancient Indian practices are deeply scientific and it would augur well to pay heed to them.
Over the last few days, the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, USA, have put out new research which finds that the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces. Scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. (Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200317150116.htm).
BBC Future reports that Neeltje van Doremalen, a virologist at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), and her colleagues at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, Montana, have done some of the first tests of how long SARS-CoV-2 can last for on different surfaces. Their study shows that “The copper surfaces tended to kill the virus in about four hours,” while lasting for upto 24 hours on cardboard and longer on plastic and stainless steel vessels.
