Omicron lasts longer on plastic, skin rather than the previous Coronavirus variant: study

Omicron Coronavirus variants can stay alive on the skin for more than 21 hours, and more than eight days on the plastic surface, which might contribute to the spread which is faster than other strains, according to a study.

Researchers from Kyoto Prefecture Medical University in Japan analyzed the difference in environmental stability of the virus between SARS-COV-2 Wuhan strains and all variants of concern (VOC).

The recent peer study, posted recently on the Biorxiv Pracrint repository, found that the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants showed more than double survival on plastic and skin surfaces, rather than Wuhan’s tension.

“The high environmental stability of this VOC can increase the risk of contact transmission and contribute to its spread,” said the study writer.

“This study indicates that Omicron has the highest environmental stability among VOC, which may be one of the factors that allow variants to replace Delta variants and spread quickly,” they said.

This study shows on plastic surfaces, the average survival time of the original strain and alpha, beta, gamma and delta variants is 56 hours, 191.3 hours, 156.3 hours each, and 114 hours, and 114 hours.

That was compared to 193.5 hours for Omicron variants, according to researchers.

In skin samples, the average survival time of the virus is 8.6 hours for the original version, 19.6 hours for Alpha, 19.1 hours for beta, 11 hours of gamma, 16.8 hours for delta and 21.1 hours for Omicron, they said.

There was no significant difference in the survival period between the alpha and beta variants, and they had similar environmental stability, which was consistent with the results of previous studies, according to the researchers.

Although the alpha, beta, delta and Omicron variants show little increased ethanol resistance in response to increased environmental stability, all voc on the surface of the skin is completely disabled by exposure to 15 seconds to 35 percent ethanol.

“Therefore, it is highly recommended that the current infection control (hand hygiene) practices using disinfectants … as proposed by the World Health Organization,” the researchers added.

The omicron variant is currently a major concern due to the increasing number of infected patients throughout the world.