Coronavirus 'can survive on shoes and floors' in hospitals, according to new research.
We told how the virus spreads through respiratory droplets in coughs and sneezes, meaning it is vital to cover your mouth and wash your hands.
New research, however, has found that it can survive on shoes and floors, posing a risk for medics and patients in hospitals.
Doctors are now being urged to disinfect their footwear after the study by the Academy of Military Medical Sciences found they could be carriers of Covid-19.
Researchers took 39 swab samples from patients at Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China.
The team also sampled the hospital air, floors, computer mice, bins, sickened handrails, patient masks, personal protective equipment and the shoes of medical staff .
The results revealed that the floor contained relatively high levels of the virus, The Mirror reports.
In the study, the researchers, led by Zhen-Dong Guo, wrote: “The rate of positivity was relatively high for floor swab samples, perhaps because of gravity and air flow causing most virus droplets to float to the ground.
“In addition, as medical staff walk around the ward, the virus can be tracked all over the floor, as indicated by the 100 per cent rate of positivity from the floor in the pharmacy, where there were no patients.”
Meanwhile, the results also revealed that many of the medical staff’s shoes tested positive for the virus.
The researchers said: “Half of the samples from the soles of the ICU medical staff shoes tested positive. Therefore, the soles of medical staff shoes might function as carriers.”
Based on the findings, the researchers are urging medical staff to regularly wash and disinfect their shoes.
The researchers added: “We highly recommend that persons disinfect shoe soles before walking out of wards containing COVID-19 patients.”
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