New Delhi: If anyone is wondering what difference does the sanitization or washing your hands make, in fighting the deadly Coronavirus, a study has revealed some shocking details about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes Covid-19.

The study found that Coronavirus may linger on human skin for 9 hours, much longer than the flu viruses can. The influenza A virus (IAV) remains active on human skin for nearly 2 hours. And, this explains why sanitizing your hands, which is at highest risk of contracting virus, is all important.

The research done by Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine in Japan was published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

It however added that both the viruses were rapidly inactivated on skin with a hand sanitiser.

The finding underscores the importance of hand washing or using a sanitiser to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“We generated a model that allows the safe reproduction of clinical studies on the application of pathogens to human skin and elucidated the stability of SARS-CoV-2 on the human skin,” the researchers wrote in the journal.

As per the study, SARS-CoV-2 and IAV were inactivated more rapidly on skin surfaces than on other surfaces such as stainless steel, glass and plastic. However, their survival time was quite high – lasting up to 9 hours — for SARS-CoV-2 than for IAV (1.82 hours).

“The nine hour survival of SARS-CoV-2 on human skin may increase the risk of contact transmission in comparison with IAV, thus accelerating the pandemic,” the researchers wrote in the journal. “Proper hand hygiene is important to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections,” they said.