(Newswire.net — May 29, 2020) — The coronavirus pandemic made the whole world begin to refuse cash. The virus is well stored on surfaces, which turns cash into a peddler of a dangerous infection. Doctors recommend not using bills, but switch to contactless payment methods. In addition, several large companies in the world agreed to switch only to cashless payments in order to protect both their employees and customers. In these conditions, the demand for online banking services and contactless bank cards has grown.
From hand to hand
Cash is often the cause of the spread of disease. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, causative agents of pneumonia, tonsillitis, hepatitis, intestinal infections, skin diseases, meningitis, Ebola, syphilis, gonorrhoea and Staphylococcus aureus can easily live on banknotes. Coronavirus was no exception – the virus can remain on paper for several days. Lower risks may carry banknotes of greater denomination, as they are less commonly used. Coins are also relatively safe because the metal is less suitable for microorganisms.
The World Health Organization (WHO) does not give specific recommendations for handling cash but recalled the need to wash hands after holding bills. The organization advises washing hands with an alcohol-based product or with soap. The primary preventive measure is personal hygiene.
Purification by fire
China has gone a little further in sanitization. Local authorities withdraw all banknotes from infected cities from circulation, paying particular attention to crowded places – hospitals, markets, public transport. With the cleaning of banknotes do not bother: they just burn and print new ones. The Chinese Central Bank speaks of plans to print 600 billion yuan (about 85.6 billion dollars) to replace the banknotes withdrawn from circulation.
The largest financial market in the world, Forex has also been affected. Even though the trading goes mainly through the Internet, Forex brokers that trade Bitcoin stocks and other currencies also advised their customers to abstain from using cash to protect themselves better.
Authorities in other regions of the country instructed banks to collect cash and irradiate it with ultraviolet light for disinfection, and to issue new ones to citizens. The risk of infection from banknotes forced the US Federal Reserve to announce quarantine measures for dollars imported from the Asian region. In South Korea, they prefer to burn potentially dangerous bills, as in China.
Some countries are more focused on solving future problems. For example, in Turkey, they seriously took care of the disinfection of money right inside the ATMs. To clean up bills from infection, a special module has been developed, which is installed in an ATM. The technology is still being tested, its mass implementation is planned only in 2023 when the pandemic is likely to be in the past.
Infection in your pocket
Russia, the largest country in the world, also adopted preventive measures. In order to combat the spread of infection, the Russian Central Bank recommended that credit institutions limit the issuance and acceptance of banknotes at ATMs operating in recycling mode.
The regulator is confident that it will be possible to minimize the spread of coronavirus while maintaining the use for cash calculations. The recommendations disagree with the statement of the State Signature: they assure that paper rubles are made using special antiseptic substances, which makes cash resistant to viruses and microbes.
The survivability of coronavirus on money, according to researchers, is up to four days. Therefore, after shopping in the store you need to wash your hands and not touch the face: the virus can enter the body through the mucous membranes. Cards are no less dangerous: plastic holds the infection for more than a week. The most secure in the department called contactless payments. In this case, do not forget to wipe the gadgets with disinfectants.
Some people actually seemed to have a few standard methods of fighting the virus, and they began to invent their own. For example, in an attempt to destroy the virus, one Russian woman decided to warm cash in the microwave. The result is a loss of 65 thousand rubles.
Habit of cash
According to a recent study by Deutsche Bank, a third of respondents in developed countries prefer cash payments. However, in some European countries, there are restrictions on the payment of banknotes. For example, in Spain, the threshold is 2.5 thousand euros, in Italy – up to 3 thousand euros, and in France – 1000 euros. This is mainly done to combat corruption and tax evasion.
Conclusion
Of course, the pandemic has not yet led to the fact that the countries of the world began to massively destroy their currency. However, under the current conditions, non-cash payment is safer for health, and we anticipate that it will gain a foothold in future. Pandemic changed people’s lives and forced them to change their habits. COVID-19 may ultimately become a catalyst that activates digitalization in the world and will substantially change the payment system we know today.