Wash the dirty money. To limit the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, which exceeded 1500 deaths this Saturday, China is cleaning and quarantining used banknotes, has just announced the central bank.
Banks use ultraviolet rays or high temperatures to disinfect banknotes before sealing them and isolating them for seven or fourteen days, said Fan Yifei, vice governor of the Chinese Central Bank (PBOC). The length of quarantine depends on the severity of the epidemic in the region.
"We must protect the safety and health of cash users," insisted Fan Yifei, adding that transfers of tickets between provinces had been suspended.
The central bank also carried out before the Lunar New Year holidays, at the end of January, "an emergency issue" of new banknotes in the amount of 4 billion yuan (or 530 million euros) for from Hubei, a province at the epicenter of the epidemic of viral pneumonia, which has killed more than 1,500 and contaminated more than 66,000 people in China, where disinfection operations have multiplied in public places and residents are incited to limit contact between them.
Flu virus can survive up to 17 days on a ticket
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Covid-19 pneumonia is transmitted mainly by the respiratory route (for example in saliva droplets) and by physical contact, but also by touching contaminated surfaces.
In 2008, a study by Swiss virologists from the Geneva Hospitals had shown that the flu virus could survive between one and 17 days on a cut of paper money, depending on its concentration and the load, or not, of mucus.
The Chinese company however hardly uses any more cash thanks to the explosion of the mobile payments, carried out with its telephone. The slightest shop accepts dematerialized payments, or even prefers them, both to avoid physical contact - a cultural reluctance - and to simplify life. Between 2013 and 2016, transactions by non-bank apps increased from 3,770 billion yuan to more than 97,000 billion yuan.
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A 2017 survey by Renmin University of Economics showed that 52% of respondents used cash for less than 20% of their expenses. 74% even claimed to spend more than a month with only 100 yuan (13.20 euros) in cash.