Coronavirus: How to handle takeaway containers safely during COVID-19 outbreak

With more of us getting takeaway than ever before thanks to restaurant closures, just how risky is it? An expert details all.

With more of us staying in because of social distancing measures, many are turning to takeout to replace meals out.

But while nights out at restaurants have been replaced with Uber Eats, just what is the risk of getting coronavirus from your takeaway?

Studies have shown coronavirus can live on different surfaces for various amounts of time. On paper it stays alive for up to 24 hours while that number goes up to nine days with plastic.

Professor Peter Doherty, a Nobel prize winner and Australian Academy of Science Fellow, said this makes the risk is real but he stressed not many people are likely to be infected this way.

Instead, he said you should take simple steps to avoid catching the virus off any takeaway containers.

RELATED: Follow the latest coronavirus updates

With dining in banned, more of us are getting takeaway than ever before. Picture: Gabriel Bouys / AFP

“We’re told it (the coronavirus) can live on cardboard and paper for up to 24 hours. I don’t think that’s likely to be a major source of infection, but it’s something you just might keep in mind when you are taking hold of the pizza box,” Prof Doherty said in a video posted on YouTube.

“Maybe you open the pizza box and then before you take the food out wash your hands and then put the pizza box somewhere out of the way.”

When it came to plastic, you should transfer it into another container or put it inside a fresh plastic bag before storing it in the fridge, Prof Doherty said.

“It can certainly survive longer on plastics and steel. It certainly survives for at least three days, and in the SARS epidemic, of course, we saw people wiping down elevator buttons.

RELATED: How to prepare your home for coronavirus

You should wash your hands and throw out takeaway containers, an expert said.

“Just open everything, wash your hands before you take the food out of the plastic and maybe transfer it to another plastic bag before you put it in the fridge. It can survive up to nine days on plastics.”

Last week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison banned dining in at restaurants, pubs and cafes, with food outlets only able to offer takeaway or home delivery instead.

In response to the growing coronavirus pandemic Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Domino's are all offering contactless delivery.

Even high-end Sydney restaurants like Chin Chin are now doing takeaway.

SHOULD YOU WASH YOUR GROCERIES TOO? 

In a video posted to YouTube, Dr Jeffrey VanWingen, a physician with Family Medicine Specialists in the US, suggests people adopt the “sterile technique” – a medical method used to perform surgeries – that he has adapted for use when dealing with food packaging during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Imagine that the groceries have some glitter on them, on the packaging and the bags,” VanWingen said. “Our goal is to not have any glitter at the end of this process in our house, on our hands, or more importantly on our face.”

For items such as vegetables in bags or ones you’ve bought fresh, he suggests “dumping” items into previously cleaned storage containers so you can ditch the contaminated bags.

“You want to wipe off the areas that you think human hands were touching more liberally than areas that you don’t think human hands have been touched,” Dr VanWingen said. “That’s all common sense stuff.”

He also recommended dividing your kitchen bench or table into two halves and sanitising the entire area. However one side will be the “dirty” side where you place your groceries or takeaway containers while the other half is “clean”. Nothing can move from the dirty side to the clean until it has been sanitised.