Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 27, 2025
Swabbing the Urban Environment - A Pipeline for Sampling and Detection of SARS-CoV-2 From Environmental Reservoirs
Published on: April 9, 2021
Why does SARS-CoV-2 survive longer on plastic than on paper?
1Emeritus Professor of Hygiene, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire Toulouse, University of Toulouse, ENVT, 23 chemin des Capelles, 31300 Toulouse, France; Ex team-leader, Food and Cancer team E9, INRAE Toxalim laboratory, Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement, France.
Abstract:
The Covid-19 coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is inactivated much faster on paper (3 h) than on plastic (7 d). By classifying materials according to virus stability on their surface, the following list is obtained (from long to short stability): polypropylene (mask), plastic, glass, stainless steel, pig skin, cardboard, banknote, cotton, wood, paper, tissue, copper. These observations and other studies suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may be inactivated by dryness on water absorbent porous materials but sheltered by long-persisting micro-droplets of water on waterproof surfaces. If such physical phenomenons were confirmed by direct evidence, the persistence of the virus on any surface could be predicted, and new porous objects could be designed to eliminate the virus faster.
