. . . . exactly how long viruses last also depends on the type of virus.

• The flu viruses is active about 5 minutes on hands and about 1 day on surfaces.
• Cold viruses remain infectious for about 1 week.
• Coronaviruses, which cause COVID-19 and other respiratory infections, last a few minutes to a few hours on porous surfaces, like cloth and paper, and up to 28 days on hard surfaces, like glass and stainless steel. Coronavirus dies within minutes in sunlight.
• Calicivirus, which causes stomach flu, lasts for days to weeks on surfaces.
• Parainfluenza virus, which causes croup, lasts 4 hours on porous surfaces and 10 hours on hard surfaces.
• The Variola virus, which causes smallpox, survives about 1 day outside the body.
• Herpes viruses survive at least 2 hours on skin.
• The HIV virus dies almost immediately outside the body or exposed to sunlight.

There is a difference between the length of time a virus remains active and how long it remains infectious. A virus isn't necessarily infectious, even if it's active, if there are too few particles to pose a threat to the immune system. For example, the flu virus survives for a day on surfaces, but it's rarely infectious past the first five minutes outside of the body. Similarly, the cold virus remains active for a week, but it's not typically infections after the first day.