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Under experimental conditions, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus survives at least twice as long on surfaces such as plastic, paper and skin, two unpublished studies show.
In the first, carried out in Japan, viruses of all coronavirus variants were obtained and grown in cells in a laboratory.
Later they spread them on squares of plastic and skin of human corpses.
In the plastic, the original Wuhan strain survived for about 56 hours. Most of the other variants tested, including Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron, survived three times as long. Ómicron could still be detected 193 hours, eight days, after its application.
On the skin, the original strain could be detected after eight hours.
Other variants lasted more than twice as long, and Omicron could still be detected after 21 hours.
For the second study, Hong Kong researchers spread samples of the original SARS-CoV-2 virus strain and the Omicron variant on stainless steel, plastic, glass and paper samples.
The original virus could be detected for only about two days on stainless steel and plastic, and for about four days on glass, but the Omicron variant could still be detected for about seven days on those surfaces. It also survived longer on toilet paper and printer paper.
Although it is true that “Omicron is still transmitted mainly by close contact and aerosol,” study researcher Leo Poon, a professor at the University of Hong Kong, told CNN. “We just want to highlight that we also need to pay attention to hand hygiene and disinfection of contaminated surfaces.”
Poon says things that are frequently touched by multiple people—door handles, handrails, and elevator buttons, for example—are good places to focus your cleaning efforts.
On the other hand, Pon points out that his team studied the BA.1 strain of Ómicron, and their findings do not extend to the BA.2 variant, which is the most recent.
Detecting viruses for seven days on a surface may seem like a long time, but it probably won’t last that long in the real world.
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