coronavirus precautions this festive season. However, medical experts have said the risk of spreading coronavirus through the post is "really low" as laboratory experiments suggest it can live on packaging materials like cardboard for a maximum of 24 hours.Dr Lena Ciric, who specialises in molecular biology, recommended sending gifts to family and friends "at the start of December" so they have time to quarantine parcels for "a few extra days"."If grandmas are worried, they can always wipe things down and then it should be totally fine,” she added.Dr Ciric, who is an environmental engineering lecturer at UCL, said coronavirus thrives in "cold and dry" conditions like warehouses and trucks where parcels are held – but the transit time will.