04/16/2020
Q3. Are disinfectants effective in causing viruses to lose infectivity?
Although the coronavirus may take longer to lose infectivity when under room temperature, disinfectants may be used to shorten this duration, thereby reducing chances of transmission and infection. Our team tested a wide variety of different disinfectants and found that all the following were effective in causing viruses to lose infectivity after five minutes of use:
■ Household Bleach (1:49)
■ Household Bleach (1:99)
■ Ethanol (70%)
■ Povidone-iodine (7.5%)
■ Chloroxylenol (0.05%)
■ Chlorhexidine (0.05%)
■ Benzalkonium chloride (0.1%)
One point of note in the study: when hand soap was used at a ratio of 1:49, only half the number of the virus lost infectivity after five minutes; after 15 minutes however, all traces of the virus had lost its infectivity.
