Although signs suggest that the absolute worst may be behind us, still, Covid pandemic isn’t over, and this does NOT mean that we have to let our guard down as infections are still soaring in several parts of the world. A study may become a reminder for us to be wary of coronavirus and its most transmissible variant, Omicron.

The study which has been published online and has not yet been peer-reviewed says that Omicron variant may last longer on the surface than other variants.
The study was conducted in Japan. It investigated to what extent there is difference in survivability of original Wuhan virus and its variants, particularly Omicron.
The study revealed that Omicron variant is able to survive on skin and on plastic much longer than original Wuhan virus. The study claims to be first one to include side-by-side comparison of the viruses.

It was found in the study that Omicron variant survived on plastic for 193.5 hours and on skin for 21.1 hours.

The preprint study has been published online on BioArxiv.

However, ‘limitations’ of this study are being discussed in media. The criticism focusses on the argument that a certain result obtained in laboratory cannot be fully reflective of real-world conditions.