While several countries have taken measures to disinfect their banknotes, Europe remains on the sidelines, considering the risk of contamination far too low. If the opinions are divided, the WHO still wanted to give some advice in order to avoid contamination via banknotes as much as possible.
As everyone knows, banknotes pass from hand to hand and are therefore a dirty object. As The Telegraph explained in an article published on March 2, 2020, tickets are likely to carry a virus for several days. In other words, they can therefore potentially transmit it.
You should know that for a few weeks, China but also South Korea have acted on this problem. Indeed, banknotes considered used have been isolated and disinfected by means of ultraviolet rays and high temperatures. Sometimes banknotes from heavily infected areas are simply destroyed. As with every precaution, the objective is the same:to reduce the progression of the Covid-19 coronavirus. In the United States, the dollars returning from Asia are "quarantined". Are we going to adopt such measures in Europe? "So far, there is no evidence that the coronavirus has been spread by euro banknotes," said the European Central Bank.
On February 12, 2020, we were talking about a study on the survival of the coronavirus. Researchers from the Ruhr University (Germany) tested the resistance of coronaviruses SARS and MERS – similar to Covid-19 – on different surfaces such as glass, plastic and paper. In conclusion, the researchers claimed that Covid-19 could also persist on averagebetween 4 and 5 days.
Nevertheless, temperature plays an important role here. Indeed, the resistance of the coronavirus decreases significantly at temperatures exceeding 30°C . On the contrary, lower temperatures favor its persistence, so that it can last up to nine days!
“But this study did not show that once on the tickets, the coronaviruses can be transmitted to a human who would handle these papers. (…) We must take these results with very large tweezers, and not deduce from them that the banknotes transmit diseases » , assures the Inserm spokesperson.
In an interview with BFMTV, the ECB spokesperson confirms this position. "As with normal seasonal flu and like on any other surface, respiratory droplets from a virus-infected person deposited on a banknote could survive for a limited period of time. But the probability of contagion with a virus via a banknote is very low compared to other surfaces. For example door handles, hands, light switches, shopping carts" .
Faced with the absence of proof of transmission to humans, precautions are still in order. The WHO, which spoke on the subject, gave some advice. First, WHO urges people to maximize use of contactless payments . However, not everyone has the possibility or even the desire to use this means of payment. Thus, it is strongly advised to wash your hands well – and regularly – in case of contact with banknotes. irreproachable personal hygiene remains the best barrier against diseases.
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