As been told by the researchers from the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the COVID-19 can still be found on the outer layer of a face mask even after seven days.
Those researchers from HKU has conducted a study related to the infections. It was known that the stability of the virus can adhere to stainless steel and plastic surfaces for four days.
“SARS-CoV-2 can be highly stable in a favorable environment, but it is also susceptible to standard disinfection methods,” said the researchers.
The researchers also has conducted a test to see how long COVID-19 can remain on a different type of surfaces at room temperature.
On a tissue and printing paper, it can remain less than three hours. For treated wood and cloth, it will disappear on the second day.
The virus will be gone by the fourth day for glass and banknotes. For stainless steel and plastic, it was present for between four and seven days.
And for the outer layer of a surgical mask, the virus can still be detected after seven days. As said by the researcher, it is very important that you do not touch the outside of the surgical mask when wearing it.
“Because you can contaminate your hands and if you touch your eyes you could be transferring the virus to your eyes,” added the researcher.
The study also stated that the concentration of the virus reduced quite rapidly overtime on all surfaces. But, the results did ‘not necessarily reflect the potential to pick up the virus from casual contact’.
This is because the presence of the virus in the study was detected by laboratory tools and not fingers or hands.
Source: Mothership.sg