The deadly coronavirus has claimed more than 2,760 people globally, 2,715 of whom in mainland China.
The virus continues to spread from China to other countries across the world.
So far, at least 80,000 people have been diagnosed with the disease globally.
But do you know how long can this virus survive on a surface?
According to reports, the concerns have grown to such an extent that the central bank of China has decided to clean and destroy a large number of its currency notes as they change hands multiple times in a day.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says coronaviruses are the group of viruses that are commonly found among animals and are in some rare cases called the zoonotic.
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Such a virus can be transmitted from animals to human beings.
The CDC also says coronaviruses spread mostly through respiratory droplets like sneeze or cough.
This virus has poor sustainability on surfaces.
A new study suggests that the new coronavirus 2019-nCoV, also called COVID-19 virus could survive on inanimate objects for over a week.
The CDC on its website says: “It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”
The CDC also says it is “currently unclear if a person can get 2019-nCoV by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes”.
A media report quoted an infectious disease professor at the University of California, Dr Charles Chiu as saying: “Based on the currently available data, I would primarily rely on the data from SARS coronavirus, which is the closest relative to the novel coronavirus – with 80% sequence similarity – among the coronaviruses tested.”
“For SARS coronavirus, the range of persistence on surfaces was less than five minutes to nine days,” the professor adds.
On average, the researchers say this family of viruses can survive between four and five days on various materials like aluminum, wood, paper, plastic, and glass.
China’s National Health Commission reported that 406 confirmed cases were identified on Tuesday – all but five in hard-hit Hubei province – and 52 people were killed by the virus.
The total number of people infected in mainland China is now 78,064, bringing the global total to 80,970.