Why are materials important to fighting Covid-19 and other viruses?

Research into how long the coronavirus can remain alive and contagious on different materials is key into strategising how to reduce its spread. Materials that have a high toxicity to Covid-19 can be used in key applications, like the most commonly touched objects in hospitals and PPE. Furthermore, materials where the virus is able to stay alive for long times should be reduced for use in key areas like hospitals and food packaging.

Researchers from Princeton University and the National Institutes of Health have looked at the surface stability of Covid-19 to assess how quickly the virus decays on different surfaces. They found that the virus could be detected on plastic and stainless-steel surfaces up to 2-3 days. This is particularly problematic as many hospital surfaces are stainless-steel and plastic as it is relatively low cost, durable, and easy to clean. However, the researchers also found that the virus was only detectable up to 4 hours on copper surfaces. This is due to the toxicity of copper to viruses and bacteria. This means that copper surfaces prove significantly less of a risk for virus transmission than steel or plastic surfaces.

Hospitals in Chile have taken advantage of the antimicrobial properties of copper and have integrated copper into the most frequently touched objects in the hospital such as the rails of beds, cupboard handles, sinks and toilets, and even PPE like masks, gloves, and scrubs.

Copper irreversibly destroys the virus (and many bacteria) by interfering with the proteins present on the surface of the virus and damaging these making the virus unable to function. Professor Bill Keevil, from the University of Southampton says: “The irreversible destruction of the virus observed on copper and copper alloy surfaces suggests that the incorporation of copper alloy surfaces – in conjunction with effective cleaning regimes and good clinical practice – could help control the transmission of these viruses”. Professor Keevil’s research has also looked into the toxic properties of copper towards Coronaviruses.