Catching COVID-19 from surfaces is very unlikely – so can we stop disinfecting?

Associate Professor Hassan Vally

A lot has happened over the past year, so you can be forgiven for not having a clear memory of what some of the major concerns were at the beginning of the pandemic.

However, if you think back to the beginning of the pandemic, one of the major concerns was the role that surfaces played in the transmission of the virus.

As an epidemiologist, I remember spending countless hours responding to media requests answering questions along the lines of whether we should be washing the outside of food cans or disinfecting our mail.

But what does the evidence actually say about surface transmission more than 12 months into this pandemic?