Coronavirus can remain infectious on surfaces for days by transforming into a ‘pancake-like film’, a new study has revealed.
While most respiratory droplets on survive on surfaces for a matter of seconds, SARS-CoV-2 droplets have been shown to survive for days on some surfaces.
Now, researchers from IIT Bombay have analysed the drying times of thin liquid films on surfaces to understand how the SARS-CoV-2 virus can survive on some surfaces for so long.
Their analysis suggests that the coronavirus molecules form a thin, pancake-like film, allowing them to survive for hours. Amit Agrawal, co-author of the study, said: “Our model for the thin film transport shows that survival or drying time of a thin liquid film on a surface is on the order