what a great loss....

[Jim GM4DHJ ...]

Oh dear...I won't be going to the gym then ?...shame that

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

Or the library it seems, though some were being kept open until last night, butnot any more. Brian

[harry]

Library books must be full of disease when you think. Plus impossible to sterilise.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Just how long do you think a virus lives on a surface?

[ARW]

1500 years if it is a Koran.

2000 years if it is a Bible.

Just a guess.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

;-)

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

I do not think that virus particles live long on surfaces. Obviously there will be rare occasions where they do if conditions are right. Remember they are not strictly speaking living at all they are merely chemical compounds designed to penetrate cell walls, and when inside they are treated as part of the dna of a cell so they can reproduce more virus particles. It must be pretty boring being a virus, since there is no real intent there, they tend to be just there by accident almost. The fact that RNA which is used in viruses is pretty prone to errors is why they mutate. We are just unlucky that the mutation here has ended up with something more dangerous than usual. Brian

[Stephen Cole]

I read an article in the week where a virologist said that this virus will remain active on hard surfaces for a couple of days or so, and a shorter time on soft surfaces such as clothes. HTH.

[Robin]

[Bernie]

"SARS-CoV-2 remained viable in aerosols throughout the duration of our experiment (3 hours), with a reduction in infectious titer from 103.5 to 102.7 TCID50 per liter of air. This reduction was similar to that observed with SARS-CoV-1, from 104.3 to 103.5 TCID50 per milliliter (Figure 1A).

SARS-CoV-2 was more stable on plastic and stainless steel than on copper and cardboard, and viable virus was detected up to 72 hours after application to these surfaces (Figure 1A), although the virus titer was greatly reduced (from 103.7 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter of medium after 72 hours on plastic and from 103.7 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter after 48 hours on stainless steel)."