The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), in a communication sent to Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, on Tuesday raised their concerns based on various reports which suggest that currency notes are carriers of several infectious diseases including Covid-19. The CAIT has sought an immediate and authentic clarification from the Health Ministry regarding the spread of infections through currency notes. The confederation has also asked for preventive and safety measures from the government so that any prospective spread of the virus can be contained.
According to the CAIT, the issue of currency notes being capable transmitters of infectious diseases has been a concern for traders for a long time but it has further escalated as various national and international reports have stated paper currency to be one of most dreaded carriers for different viruses and infections.
“The rapid spread of the coronavirus contagion over surface-to-humans transmissions, and considering that cash is the most preferred mode of transaction in the country, there exists a great worry of the virus spreading through currency notes. It is learnt that the Covid virus, transmitted through droplets, could be passed on even from dried surfaces to humans and therefore, the currency notes having a dried surface are considered to be posing a threat of carrying the Covid virus also among other viruses and bacteria,” the CAIT mentioned.
Both CAIT national president B.C. Bhartia and national secretary general Praveen Khandelwal referred to a 2015 study conducted by King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, which had studied a sample of 96 bank notes and 48 coins, almost entirely contaminated with virus, fungus and bacteria. Similarly, another reference was made to a 2016 study which was conducted in Tamil Nadu and showed that 86.4% of 120 bank notes collected from doctors, banks, markets, butchers, students and housewives had various disease-causing pathogens. Another 2016 report from Karnataka showed how 58 of 100 notes of Rs 100, Rs 50, Rs 20 and Rs 10 were contaminated.
“Because of the greater usage of currency notes in India, the business community being the largest user of currency notes is most prone to any such infection. In the context of Covid, there is a great fear among the traders across the country about handling cash currency since it changes hands rapidly between an unquantified series of unknown persons. Therefore, a clarification on such an important issue is all the more necessary as the currency is used by every citizen of the country and if it is really a virus carrier, then adoption of preventive measures are much required to contain the spreading of the coronavirus,” said Bhartia.
