TY - JOUR T1 - A realistic touch-transfer method reveals low risk of transmission for SARS-CoV-2 by contaminated coins and bank notes JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2021.04.02.438182 SP - 2021.04.02.438182 AU - Daniel Todt AU - Toni Luise Meister AU - Barbora Tamele AU - John Howes AU - Dajana Paulmann AU - Britta Becker AU - Florian H. Brill AU - Mark Wind AU - Jack Schijven AU - Baxolele Mhlekude AU - Christine Goffinet AU - Adalbert Krawczyk AU - Jörg Steinmann AU - Stephanie Pfaender AU - Yannick Brüggemann AU - Eike Steinmann Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/02/2021.04.02.438182.abstract N2 - The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has created a significant threat to global health. While respiratory aerosols or droplets are considered as the main route of human-to-human transmission, secretions expelled by infected individuals can also contaminate surfaces and objects, potentially creating the risk of fomite-based transmission. Consequently, frequently touched objects such as paper currency and coins have been suspected as a potential transmission vehicle. To assess the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission by banknotes and coins, we examined the stability of SARS-CoV-2 and bovine coronavirus (BCoV), as surrogate with lower biosafety restrictions, on these different means of payment and developed a touch transfer method to examine transfer efficiency from contaminated surfaces to skin. Although we observed prolonged virus stability, our results, including a novel touch transfer method, indicate that the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via contaminated coins and banknotes is unlikely and requires high viral loads and a timely order of specific events.Competing Interest StatementDT and ES receive consulting fees from the European Central Bank. FHB is executive partner of Dr. Brill + Partner GmbH. DP and BB are employees at Dr. Brill + Partner GmbH. BT and JH are employees at the European Central Bank. MW is employee at De Nederlandsche Bank. ER -