Omicron Survives Happily On Plastic Surfaces – Even On Skin

Omicron survives on surfaces better than other variants

 

In addition to plastic objects, this variant can remain much more infectious on human skin than before.

One of the reasons for omicron’s dominance and victory over the delta may also be that it can remain much more infectious on some surfaces than any previous coronavirus strain, according to a peer-reviewed study by Japanese researchers.

“Our study showed that alpha, beta, delta, and omicron variants on plastic and skin surfaces showed more than twice as long survival time as the original Wuhan strain, retaining their infectivity on skin surfaces for more than 16 hours,” the study authors wrote.

The survival of the different versions on plastic surfaces is as follows:

• Wuhan tribe 56 hours
• alpha 191.3 hours
• beta 156.6 hours
• gamma 59.3 hours
• delta 114 hours
• omicron 193.5 hours.

So, the omicron survives and can remain infectious on plastic surfaces for eight days according to an article by Euronews – Original Publication* The ability of survival on human skin has been studied on corpses, with the following results:

• Wuhan tribe 8.6 hours
• alpha 19.6 hours
• beta 19.1 hours
• gamma 11 hours
• delta 16.8 hours
• omicron 21.1 hours.

“Our study showed that the omicron version has the highest environmental stability among the variants of concern, this high stability may be one of the factors that allowed the omicron to replace the delta and spread rapidly,” the authors wrote.

Omicron is already present in all European countries, causing more than 99 percent of sequenced cases in Finland, Belgium and Malta.

 

Are you taking these precautions?

 

The researchers also found that although the variants were more resistant to ethanol than the Wuhan strain, they become completely non-infectious 15 seconds after the use of an alcoholic hand sanitizer. Researchers therefore emphasize adherence to WHO-recommended hand disinfection protocols. New generation disinfectants are also available that are as effective as alcohol but do not dry the skin.

So, although the detection of new infections is on a downtrend in Ireland, we need to remain vigilant and keep the basic hygiene rules. Now that the restrictions have been lifted, those who want to remain confident when going out can validate their antibody levels by taking the Ultimate Covid Test.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.18.476607v1.full