A study released this Thursday confirms for the first time empirically that the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, inside homes was due to its presence on hands and surfaces, which, in the face of future pandemics, justifies the need for people to have good hygiene.
The study, led by scientists at Imperial College London in collaboration with the UKHSA (UK Health Safety Agency) and the University of Oxford, shows that the risk of infection among relatives increased if the virus was present “in the hands of people and surfaces in homes that are touched frequently”.
Research led by Ajit Lalvani, published in The Lancet Microbedid not examine the presence of the virus in the air, but also does not rule out that it was transmitted this way.
Researchers examined 414 contacts living in the same households as 279 diagnosed cases, between August 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, at the height of the pandemic and when few people had been vaccinated. The age group was 6 to 79 years old, and 52% were women.
All “contacts” underwent regular PCR testing for Sars-CoV-2, and hand scrapings were also obtained from both primary cases and their relatives, as well as commonly handled surfaces such as refrigerator door handles. , kettles and kitchen faucets.
The researchers found that, “if the virus was detected in the hands of the primary cases, their relatives would be 1.7 times more likely to be infected than those in households where the primary cases did not have the virus on their hands.”
If the virus were present on surfaces, contacts would be 3.8 times more likely to have the virus on their hands and 1.7 times more likely to test positive in a PCR test.
Lalvani says that, “until now, the presence of the virus on people’s hands or on domestic surfaces has not been able to predict transmission to other family members within the home.”
Therefore, the results support the adoption of certain measures inside the house when someone is contaminated, in particular “frequent hand washing, regular surface disinfection and physical distancing, in addition to the use of masks to slow the spread of Covid-19”, says the study.