With the outbreak of COVID-19 or coronavirus, we have been told to maintain certain preventive measures to avoid getting infected. Between frequently washing our hands to staying at home if we are not feeling well, and even maintaining the social distancing. However, we tend to forget about the basics: our phones.
The reality is that even before the COVID-19, we tended to neglect the cleaning and disinfection of our phones, especially the screen. According to Dr. David Westenberg, an associate professor of biological sciences at Missouri University of Science and Technology, “Touch screens on our devices are an often overlooked source of microbes that can be brought into our personal space.”
How To Disinfect A Phone During the COVID-19 Outbreak
When you are thinking about how to disinfect a phone, the first thing you should do is check your phone manufacturer website. Most manufacturers tell you how you can properly clean and disinfect your phone without any risk. And in case you bought a carrying case as well, you usually also have some instructions to clean it.
Overall speaking, a disinfecting phone is done in the same way no matter the brand. So, here's what you should do when you want to disinfect phone:
- You should use a lint-free and soft cloth
- You should make sure that you unplug the phone from all power sources, cables, and devices
- You should avoid excessive wiping
- You want to keep liquids away to avoid any accidents that can damage your phone
- You should avoid spraying cleaners directly onto your phone
- You should also avoid the use of aerosol sprays, abrasives, and bleaches
- You shouldn't allow moisture to get into any openings.
Besides, you should also ensure that you use disinfect phone wipes to disinfect mobile phone. While you can find a wide range of disinfecting phone wipe available on the market, you should pick the ones that use 70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipes when you need to disinfect nonporous and hard surfaces. However, you should make sure that they don't get in touch with fabric or leather.
When you want to disinfect the phone, you may be inclined to buy more abrasive products such as chlorine bleach. However, you need to understand that this product can damage your phone.
To ensure that you can easily disinfect the phone, you can keep it in a sealed case, for example. 
How Often Should You Disinfect Your Phone?
Ultimately, you should disinfect it as soon as it becomes contaminated. So, for example, if someone coughs or sneezes near it, you should make sure that you disinfect it right away.
While this seems to be a very extreme situation, you should clean and disinfect your phone on a regular basis. But this doesn't mean that you need to disinfect it every time you touch it either. Overall, this depends on your own habits. For example, if you wash your hands frequently, you don't need to disinfect your phone that often.
