Newspapers don’t spread COVID-19: Medical experts

NEW DELHI: Experts have stated that newspapers do not spread Coronavirus, despite that many people in Delhi have unsubscribed the editions for a month.

Scientists at India’s top Health research bodies and Health experts have also said holding newspapers in your hands is safe while there is no evidence of them or other types of paper being carriers of Covid19 infection.

However, people have stated that due to fear they have unsubscribed or asked their vendors to stop sending newspapers. “I think, it is better to be safe than sorry. With the way this virus is spreading it is better to stop the subscription as of now,” said Ruchika a resident of Dwarka.

Meanwhile, vendors have seen a downgrade in the demand of newspapers where many people have stopped taking newspapers altogether. Sanjeev, a newspaper vendor in Palam, said that about 30 per cent of the people have fully unsubscribed the newspapers.

“We deliver newspapers to more than 500 houses daily, about 40 houses have in the past few days cancelled their subscription citing fear of Coronavirus,” he said. Sanjeev’s company is also closed at the moment, due to the pandemic.

The same views were expressed by Ashok Choudhary who delivers newspapers in South Delhi. “I receive about 15,000 newspapers daily, which have reduced in the past few days,” he said.

He said that more than 50 houses have asked them to stop sending newspapers. “Most families have asked me to not send newspapers for a few weeks due to Coronavirus, while others have totally unsubscribed it.

Over the past week, there have been Whatsapp messages and forwards — stating that newspapers can spread the infection, which has been roundly refuted by health experts and doctors.

Dr Randeep Guleria, Director, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said the possibility of an infected person contaminating commercial goods and infection risk from a package that has travelled from one place to another, is low. “Survivability of the virus on cardboard surfaces is quite low as compared to metal or steel; hence there is no chance of the virus being spread through newspapers,” he said.

According to World Health Organisation as well, the likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID19 from a package that has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperature is also low.