For an infectious agent that has led to the deaths of more than 2.4 million people, it is worth noting that all the SARS-CoV-2 virus particles circulating in the world right now could easily fit inside a soft drink can.

Using global rates of new infections with the pandemic disease, coupled with estimations of viral load, mathematician Dr Kit Yates (PhD) calculated there are around two quintillion — or two billion billion — SARS-CoV-2 virus particles in the world at any one time.

Dr Yates said he used the diameter of SARS-CoV-2 — at an average of about 100 nanometers, or 100 billionths of a meter — and then figured out the volume of the spherical virus.

Even accounting for the coronavirus’ projecting spike proteins and the fact that the spherical particles will leave gaps when stacked together, the total is still less than 330ml.