Study: COVID survives on skin for 9 hours, 5 times longer than flu - The Times of Israel

TOKYO, Japan — The coronavirus remains active on human skin for nine hours, Japanese researchers have found, in a discovery they said showed the need for frequent handwashing to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The nine-hour survival of SARS-CoV-2 [the virus strain that causes COVID-19] on human skin may increase the risk of contact transmission in comparison with IAV [influenza A virus], thus accelerating the pandemic,” it said.