How To COVID-19 Proof Your Smartphone?

KEY POINTS

Smartphone screens are found to be three times dirtier than a toilet seat

A research revealed that one in 20 smartphone users cleans their smartphones every six months or less

COVID-19 virus can persist on inanimate surfaces like metal, glass or plastic for up to 9 days, a study claims

COVID-19 is causing massive havoc all over the world and stealing thousands of lives. Experts have offered useful tips on how to avoid spreading and contracting the lethal virus and one of them is by not touching your face with your hands. But, one of the breeding places of germs that are sometimes dirtier than our hands is our smartphone. Here are some tips on how to COVID-19 proof your smartphone. 

Research published in 2018 by Insurance2Go, an insurance provider for gadgets, shared that smartphone screens contain three times more germs than a toilet seat. The study claimed that one in 20 smartphone users cleans their handsets every six months or less. The Journal of Hospital Infection recently published an analysis  of 22 studies. It revealed that "coronaviruses can persist on inanimate surfaces like metal, glass or plastic for up to 9 days, but can be efficiently inactivated by surface disinfection procedures with 62–71% ethanol, 0.5% hydrogen peroxide or 0.1% sodium hypochlorite within 1 minute." 

Doctors recommend that, aside from regular hand washing, it is also important to disinfect their smartphone every 90 minutes with alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Microbiologist Charles Gebra, meanwhile, suggests to lightly damp microfiber cloth with a combination of 40 percent rubbing alcohol and 60 percent water to remove the germs from the screen. The Verge suggested that the user can purchase a screen protector on top of the display. 

A traveler wears a medical mask at Grand Central station on March 5, 2020 in New York City. Photo: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

The better protectors are glass, and cleaning them with the water and alcohol mixture would not only de-germ the screen but also protect the phone's actual display, the site says.

"In the time of fear of coronavirus, smartphones should also be disinfected with alcohol-based sanitizer rub. Pour a few drops of sanitizer on a tiny clean cotton pad and rub it safely on your entire phone," Jyoti Mutta, Senior Consultant in Microbiology at Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute in New Delhi, suggested. "Maintain basic cleanliness, and try to avoid using other's phones especially if suffering from respiratory illness or flu-like symptoms as there is no other way to disinfect these regular gadgets," she added.

Coronavirus and Covid-19 - Nothing will be the same after this