(Image source from: economictimes.com)

While majority of the people had the notion that the novel coronavirus doesn’t withstand heat and won’t infect the tropical countries, they have been proven wrong. Despite the prior suspicions, the new studies have found that the virus can very well thrive in higher temperatures.

According to a study conducted by the researchers from the University of Aix-Marseille in France, they have found that the virus can live in prolonged exposure to heat as well.

In the study, the researchers found that the standard temperature of 60 degrees celsius which is typically used for disinfecting the labs didn’t have any kinds of impact on the nature of the virus. The pathogen can only be killed when exposed to a high temperature of 92 degrees celsius for an extended period of 15 minutes.

The samples were collected using swabs from the kidneys of an infected African green monkey. While one of the swabs was heated, the other one was used with animal proteins in order to mimic the biological contamination process that has been witnessed around.

The researchers then heated one of the samples for an hour in 60 degrees celsius. The virus stayed intact and even replicated at a prolonged high temperature. This suggests that even after the proper disinfecting of the labs, it is likely that the virus may linger.

When the same was disinfected at 92 degrees celsius for an hour, the virus was successfully killed but since it caused RNA damage, the sensitivity of the check was harmed.

The team of researchers also suggested that the 60 degree temperature would be enough to kill the virus if the sample size is small. But, in case of the larger infection size, the near boiling point is a necessity to deactivate the virus.

The researchers also concluded with it are the fact that it is always better to use chemicals to disinfect the labs instead of using heat.

Some reports even suggested that the China lab workers were aware of the hazard which is why they made use of the hazmat suits. The study is yet to be peer reviewed or published in any of the scientific journals around.

By Somapika Dutta