Chinese Research Team: "Not Closing Toilet Lid After Using Increases COVID-19 Infection Risk"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] A study has found that simply flushing the toilet without closing the lid after using the bathroom can lead to infection with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

On the 16th (local time), according to The Washington Post (WP), a research team led by Professor Wang Zhixiang from the School of Energy and Environment at Dongnan University in China concluded that flushing causes aerosols to rise above the toilet and remain in the air long enough for people to inhale them.

This means that viruses contained in the feces of COVID-19 patients can spread to the surrounding area through the act of flushing the toilet.

Professor Wang Zhixiang’s research paper was published on the same day in the American Institute of Physics (AIP) journal, Physics of Fluids.

Previous studies that detected the novel coronavirus in the feces of COVID-19 patients support these findings.

A paper published in the journal Gastroenterology in March reported that researchers from Sun Yat-sen University in China detected a significant amount of the novel coronavirus in toilets used by COVID-19 patients, and that viral genetic material remained in feces even after the virus disappeared from the respiratory tract.

In the same month, the British medical journal The Lancet published a paper reporting that the virus was detected in feces even one month after a COVID-19 patient had recovered.

Professor Wang emphasized, "When you flush, the virus rises upward," and stressed, "You must close the toilet lid before flushing."

However, WP reported that it is not yet certain whether the amount of virus spread through flushing without closing the lid is sufficient to cause COVID-19 infection in people.

Professor Charles Gerba from the Department of Microbiology at the University of Arizona said, "While the risk cannot be said to be zero, it is unclear whether the amount is sufficient to cause infection in people."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also stated that "it is uncertain whether the novel coronavirus found in feces causes COVID-19 infection."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.