Genetically speaking, the novel coronavirus is very similar to the SARS virus that outbreaks worldwide in 2003.
According to a German research team paper published in the 2005 Journal of Hospital Information, 85% ethanol or 95% ethanol worked well to kill the SARS virus.
Ethanol is a hand sanitizer that includes 85 to 95 percent, reducing the SARS virus to less than one-hundredth of a millionth within 30 seconds, the report showed. The disinfectant containing 80 percent ethanol reduced the SARS virus to one-thousandth.
It has been confirmed that disinfectants that contain 45 percent of Isopropyl alcohol and 30 percent of N-Propanol can reduce the virus to one-thousandth for 30 seconds.
In a paper published in the 2016 Journal of BMC Infectious Diseases, a German research team reported that 80 percent ethanol kills a significant number of epidermal viruses, but does not eliminate some viruses (the Polyomavirus that causes tumors).
In the case of human intestinal viruses, 95% ethanol is inert, but not 70% or 75% ethanol. In a paper published in the 2017 Journal of Hospital Infection, it also said most viruses become inactive at 95 percent ethanol.
Viruses are infectious pathogens that cause disease. It takes nutrients from the cells of other living things (hosts) to maintain life. It is different from germs that breed inanimate beings.
So viruses cannot survive in the air for long. “The virus almost dies when it is released into the air,” said Lee Sang-won, head of the diagnosis management division at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The virus can only survive for three days at the most,” he said. There is another reason why viruses are difficult to live in the air. Viruses are weak in the light, especially, UV rays kill it. For this reason, it is extremely unlikely that the virus will spread in general space or outdoors solely through the air.