London, Apr 6 (EFE).- A study released this Thursday empirically confirms for the first time that the spread of the coronavirus within the home is due to its presence on hands and surfaces, which, in the face of a future pandemic, justifies the need to maintain good hygiene. the good one.

The study, carried out by scientists from Imperial College London in collaboration with the UK’s Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) and the University of Oxford, showed that the risk of infection between close friends increases if the virus is in people’s hands and frequently. touching the surface at home.”

The study led by Ajit Lalvani, published in “The Lancet Microbe”, did not examine the presence of the virus in the air and therefore does not rule out that it is also transmitted in this way.

The researchers examined 414 contacts living in the same household as 279 diagnosed cases, between August 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, at the height of the pandemic and when few people had been vaccinated. The age range was from 6 to 79 years, and 52% were women, they said.

All “contacts” underwent regular PCR testing for SARS-CoV-2 infection and swabs were also obtained from the hands of both the main cases and their relatives, as well as from the most manipulated surfaces, such as doorknobs, fridge doors and kettles or kitchen faucets.

The researchers found that, “if the virus was detected on the hands of the primary case, contacts in their household were 1.7 times more likely to become infected than in households where the primary case did not have the virus on their hands.”

If the virus was on surfaces, contacts were 3.8 times more likely to have the virus on their hands and 1.7 times more likely to test positive by PCR, they wrote.

Nalvani stated that “to date it has not been proven that the presence of the virus on people’s hands or on household surfaces allows for anticipated transmission to contacts.”

The findings therefore support adopting certain measures inside the home when someone is infected, in particular “frequent hand washing, regular surface disinfection, and physical distancing, and the use of masks to slow the spread of infection.” -19,” the study said.

The authors caution that their study is only observational, so it does not prove “causality”, and they further acknowledge that non-white ethnicity and older age groups are overrepresented. On the other hand, because of its development date, the study was limited to the pre-alpha and alpha variants, they said.