According to a report, scientists have found the killer coronavirus can survive in the air for three hours. US government researchers, who worked with other experts, also found the deadly infection can live on surfaces for up to three days.
Tests showed the virus can survive on copper for four hours, cardboard for an entire day and up to 72 hours on plastic and steel. The study comes after the World Health Organization finally declared the escalating global outbreak as a pandemic.
Almost 5,000 patients across the globe have died and almost 130,000 people have been infected with COVID-19.
The new study has been released online before publication in a journal. It means that it has not yet been peer-reviewed, adds to the evidence.
Officials around the world have already launched hard-hitting campaigns urging the public to wash their hands to stop the coronavirus.
For the study - which is not the first to find the virus lives on surfaces, researchers used a nebulizer device to put samples of it into the air. This imitates what might happen if an infected person coughed or made the virus airborne some other way, such as breathing.
