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Hospital surfaces are not likely to be contaminated with the novel coronavirus, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that just two percent of all patient and staff areas that were swabbed came back positive for having genetic material of the virus that causes COVID-19.
But although the viral RNA could be picked up from a surface, it was not enough to be infectious.
The team, from the University of California, Davis, says the findings add to the growing body of evidence suggesting surface transmission is a rare method for COVID-19 to spread.
Researchers from the University of California, Davis, collected samples every two weeks from March 2020 to mid-August 2020 in COVID-19 patient and staff areas (file image)
Just 2% of swabbed areas in August - such as floors, hand sanitizing stations, ventilators and soiled linens - tested positive for coronavirus
When the pandemic first hit the U.S. in spring 2020, health experts told Americans to be careful of surface transmission.
Doctors encouraged the public to wash their hands
