..
Hot weather could cut spread of coronavirus as sunlight ‘kills virus in 34 minutes’
A new study claims that spending time in the sunshine this week could actually help to reduce your risk of coronavirus
By Shivali Best
09:27, 24 JUN 2020Updated09:55, 24 JUN 2020
With temperatures set to soar across the UK this week, many Brits will likely head out to enjoy the sunshine.
Now, a new study claims that spending time outdoors can actually reduce your risk of coronavirus.
Scientists Jose-Luis Sagripanti and David Lytle – a US Army veteran and former employee at the Food and Drug Administration, respectively – say that strong sunlight can kill coronavirus in just 34 minutes.
In the study, the researchers analysed how well UV sunlight could destroy the virus in various cities at different times of the year.
The analysis suggests that ‘midday sunlight in most US and world cities during summer’ can wipe out 90% of coronavirus living on surfaces in just 34 minutes.
In contrast, from December until March, the researchers suggest that the virus can live on surfaces for up to a day or more.
In their study, published in Photochemistry and Photobiology, the researchers wrote: “The presented data indicate that SARS-CoV-2 should be inactivated relatively fast (faster than influenza A) during summer in many populous cities of the world, indicating that sunlight should have a role in the occurrence, spread rate, and duration of coronavirus pandemics.”
However, the World Health Organisation has warned that sunlight does not prevent coronavirus.
–
WHO also advised against using UV lamps to try to combat the virus.
It added: “UV lamps should not be used to sterilize hands or other areas of skin as UV radiation can cause skin irritation.”
https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/strong-sunlight-can-kill-coronavirus-22243197
..
Can summer sun kill coronavirus? Study claims midday UV rays can ‘inactivate’ 90% of coronavirus – but experts say it will make ‘no difference to the infection rate’
A new study claims that summer sunlight at high noon can kill up to 90 percent of coronavirus in most US and international cities within 34 minutes.
The study authors – a pair of retired US government scientists, one of whom worked for the Army and a second who worked for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National institutes of Health (NIH) – believe that lockdowns may have actually done harm to citizens who were not exposed to virus-inactivating sunlight.
Their article, published in the journal Photochemistry and Photobiology, is among a growing body of evidence that suggests coronavirus may in the cold and fares more poorly at higher temperatures and humidity.
And ultraviolet light – the same radiation the sun emits – is now being used to sterilize surfaces, including New York City subways.
But while many scientists contend that the dose of UV light needed to kill coronavirus is unsafe for humans and that summer heat may slow but not stop the pandemic, Dr Jose-Luis Sagripanti and Dr C David Lytle insist the sun will keep us safe.
–
But two experts told DailyMail.com that, while the research is interesting, the lab-based data is unlikely to translate directly to the real world, and sunshine is unlikely to save us from infection this summer.
‘There’s a little scientific truth there, but it’s not the kind of truth that’s going to make a difference to the infection rate,’ Texas A&M University Texarkana biologist Dr Ben Neuman told DailyMail.com.
Sunlight, he said, ‘will clean up some of the virus that’s going to be laying around, but it’s in the stuff that comes out of someone’s mouth, hangs briefly in the air, and goes right into someone else’s nose or mouth.’
Dr Neuman, most of whose research is specifically on coronaviruses, explained that UV rays can kill naked virus, but are much less effective at inactivating the virus when it is in droplets of mucus from infected people’s noses or mouths.
..
weehingthong 