Research: Low risk of coronavirus infection through banknotes and coins

The risk of a human being being infected by coronavirus through cash - money and banknotes- is generally very low. This is the conclusion of a study by experts from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Department of Medicine and Molecular Virology at the Ruhr-Universitat in Bochum, Germany.

The question of how long the virus can stay on money and how long it is possible to be transmitted through it has been a concern for experts and non-specialists alike since the beginning of the pandemic. The new study developed a new method that specifically tests how many infectious viral particles can be transferred from cash to skin in real-life conditions.

The researchers exposed various euro coins and banknotes to solutions with different concentrations of coronavirus and then observed how many days the virus SARS-CoV-2 was detectable on the money, using for comparison as a control surface a surface of stainless steel.

The findings are - in general - rather reassuring. It was found that while in stainless steel the infectious coronavirus is still present after seven days, in e.g. ten euro notes it has disappeared completely in three days. As far as coins are concerned, the virus is no longer detectable (and therefore no longer contagious) after six days on the 10 cent coin, after two days on the 1 euro coin and after only one hour on the 5 cent coin. The rapid disappearance of the last coin is due to the fact that it is made of copper, on which viruses are known to be less viable.

Although the virus can persist for days, especially on banknotes, it is estimated that it is rare for a person to be infected through this route, as - among other things - a high viral load is required, which is not usually present on cash. Lead researcher Daniel Todd said that «under realistic circumstances, contamination with coronavirus from cash is very unlikely».

This is consistent with the findings of other studies that in the vast majority of cases Covid-19 infection has occurred aerogenically. Despite initial fears, surface infections seem to be almost non-existent.

Although the study involved the coronavirus alpha («British») variant, the researchers believe that the delta («Indian») variant behaves similarly on money.