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The Omicron variant may survive longer than previous versions of the coronavirus on plastic surfaces and human skin, Japanese researchers found in laboratory tests.
Its “high environmental stability” – its ability to remain contagious – may have helped omicron replace the delta as the dominant variant and spread rapidly, they said.
On plastic surfaces, the mean survival times of the original COVID and the Alfa, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants were 56 hours, 191.3 hours, 156.6 hours, 59.3 hours, and 114.0 hours, respectively. Compared to 193.5 hours for Omicron, the researchers reported on bioRxiv prior to peer review. In carcass skin samples, the mean virus survival time was 8.6 hours for the original version, 19.6 hours for Alpha, 19.1 hours for Beta, 11 hours for Gamma, 16.8 hours for Delta, and 21.1 hours for Omicron.
On the skin, all variants were completely inactivated 15 seconds after exposure to alcohol-based hand sanitizers. “Therefore,” the researchers conclude, “it is highly recommended that current infection control (hand hygiene) practices use disinfectants… as proposed by the World Health Organization.”
Researchers have also seen fewer deaths from COVID-19 in the omicron period, though they said it was too early to draw firm conclusions about the variant’s mortality effect, Reuters reports.
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