A realistic transfer method reveals low risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission via contaminated euro coins and banknotes

iScience

Christine Goffinet¹  Barbora Tamele²  Toni Luise Meister³  Jörg Steinmann³  Yannick Brüggemann³  Dajana Paulmann³  Volker Kinast⁴  Daniel Todt⁵  Stephanie Pfaender⁵  Adalbert Krawczyk⁵  John Howes⁵  Baxolele Mhlekude⁶  Mark Wind⁷  Natalie Heinen⁷  Jack Schijven⁷  Florian H. Brill⁸  Britta Becker⁸  Eike Steinmann⁹ 

[1] Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, 3508 Utrecht, the Netherlands;European Virus Bioinformatics Center (EVBC), 07743 Jena, Germany;Medical Virology, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany;Cash Policy Department, De Nederlandsche Bank, 1000 Amsterdam, The Netherlands;;Department of Molecular &Department of Statistics, Informatics and Modeling, National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, 3720 Bilthoven, the Netherlands;Dr. Brill + Partner GmbH Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology, 28259 Bremen, Germany;European Central Bank (ECB), 60314 Frankfurt am Main, Germany;Institute of Virology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany;

关键词: Microbiology;    Virology;    Methodology in biological sciences;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Summary: The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has created a significant threat to global health. While respiratory aerosols or droplets are considered as the main route of human-to-human transmission, secretions expelled by infected individuals can also contaminate surfaces and objects, potentially creating the risk of fomite-based transmission. Consequently, frequently touched objects such as paper currency and coins have been suspected as potential transmission vehicle. To assess the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission by banknotes and coins, we examined the stability of SARS-CoV-2 and bovine coronavirus, as surrogate with lower biosafety restrictions, on these different means of payment and developed a touch transfer method to examine transfer efficiency from contaminated surfaces to fingertips. Although we observed prolonged virus stability, our results indicate that transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via contaminated coins and banknotes is unlikely and requires high viral loads and a timely order of specific events.

【 授权许可】

Unknown