• Question: Could you catch coronavirus from a dead person?

    Asked by anon-243620 to Pan-ngum, Natalia, Mick, Manjit, Filipe, Bruce on 16 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Michael Schubert

      Michael Schubert answered on 16 Mar 2020:

      If that person had died of the coronavirus, you could catch it from them for a little while. You would have to get quite close to them, though, because they won’t be doing things like coughing to spread it (unlike a living person). Hopefully, you will not be near any dead bodies – and the people whose job it is to take care of dead bodies are very careful not to catch coronavirus or anything else from them.

    • Photo: Pan-ngum Wirichada

      Pan-ngum Wirichada answered on 17 Mar 2020:

      The person may be dead but the virus can still survive in the environment on average 4 – 5 days. Direct contact can still cause the disease then.

    • Photo: Natalia Brodaczewska

      Natalia Brodaczewska answered on 17 Mar 2020:

      I’d agree with the other scientists that the virus can probably survive in a dead body for a while. So maybe try to stay away from dead bodies for now 😉

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