The focus of many countries around the world during the current health crisis linked to the emerging coronavirus, on personal hygiene. Despite the advice that calls on people to pay attention to frequent washing of their hands, experts wonder about the extent of the packages used to ensure the cleanliness of smartphones that people hold their hands constantly.
In this regard, Kaspersky was keen to offer some advice on keeping portable devices “virus-free”.
It was scary to think about the numbers of bacteria and their types that live on portable personal devices, even before the outbreak of the new Corona epidemic, according to Maher Yamout, a security researcher at Kaspersky, who confirmed that the virus’s ability to stay at room temperature and cause infections from the surfaces of minerals, glass, ceramics, and plastics For several days “it will necessarily require effective methods of sterilizing our mobile devices.”
The virus can reach the phone or tablet in two ways; either from a cough spray of an infected person close to the nearby device, or from a hand that has touched a surface contaminated with the virus, which may be a door handle, ATM buttons, a shelf, a product in a store, or the like.
And the first method of transmitting the infection remains less likely, unless the person hands over the phone to an infected person so he can do it, and the transmission of the infection by hand depends on the duration of the contact and the nature of the microorganisms, but the lack of reliable data on the emerging virus until now remains a cause for more caution.
Maher Yamout said that it is necessary for one to sterilize his mobile phone when returning home if he has to go to the store to obtain basic commodities, pointing out that there are many common household products that can effectively eliminate the Coronavirus, such as ethanol, isopropanol, and peroxide. Hydrogen and sodium hypochlorite.
Isopropanol is less harmful to screen coating that allows fingers to slide on it without covering it with fingerprints, making it preferred for use in sterilization as a spray, wiping or as wet wipes.
It is preferable not to use ethanol and hydrogen peroxide except when isopropanol is available, as these products with repeated use, and sometimes even once, can cause harm to the anti-grease coating.
The alcohol concentration is preferably between 70 and 80%, since pure alcohol evaporates too quickly to obtain the best result of sterilization, and the less concentration the product reduces the efficiency of killing viruses, therefore alcoholic beverages, for example, cannot be relied on for sterilization instead of ethyl alcohol And the glass cleaner is not as effective as isopropanol because it contains much less alcohol. The cleansing solution should be left on the surface for about a minute to ensure its efficacy.
It is also important not to pour sterile liquid into the plug and charging holes of the smartphone, even if it is waterproof, and it is sufficient to soak a piece of cotton in the liquid and wipe the sides of the device with it carefully and accurately without strong pressure.
The sterilization procedure itself must be applied to any other tools used in public places, such as tablets, laptops, smart watches, bracelets, headphones, and so on. However, the product website should always be checked to see if the manufacturer has any recommendations on materials and the most appropriate way to clean the device.
