FALSE: CORONA VIRUS ONLY LIVES UP TO 9 DAYS ON OBJECTS

FALSE: CORONA VIRUS ONLY LIVES UP TO 9 DAYS ON OBJECTS

The Covid-19 virus cannot survive on an inanimate object for more than nine days as some traders claim.Kenyan officials are under pressure to rescind a ban on imports of second-hand clothes, popularly known in the country as “mitumba”. Pressuring the Kenyan government to lift the ban on second-hand clothes imports, a lobby group said clothes ship for an average of 45 days but the Covid-19 virus cannot survive that long, and so the imports pose no health risks.

Evidence shows the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s survival is similar to SARS-CoV-1, which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, and ranges from two hours to nine days. Experts say the virus is unlikely to survive on textiles beyond one to two days, and definitely not longer than nine days.

According to a team of global health experts at the Meedan Digital Health Lab, SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes Covid-19, can survive from three hours to seven days. The lab works to simplify health and medical science.

Pesa Check and Africa Check did research on the claim where WHO cited two studies 🙁 1. ) Munster told Africa Check that there was “no risk associated with the importation of these or other goods”. This is because “typically SARS-CoV-2 cannot survive more than one or two days”. (2.) Dr Günter Kampf, professor at the Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine at the University of Greifswald in Germany, co-authored a paper titled Persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and their inactivation with biocidal agents.

Conclusion: Evidence Covid-19 won’t survive longer than nine days on textiles

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