WINNIPEG -- With the spread of COVID-19 across the world, people are being urged to wash their hands, avoid touching their faces and increase sanitation practices.

But what household items need to be sanitized? And how often should people be disinfecting their phones and cars? CTV News Winnipeg spoke with an emerging virus expert to find out.

WASHING PRODUCE

According to Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, an assistant professor in the department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Manitoba, there’s no evidence to suggest that produce needs to be cleaned with soapy water.

“From what we’ve seen with ingestion of the virus through food sources, there’s no information to suggest that’s a primary route of transmission,” he said, noting people don’t need to be implementing changes at this time when it comes to cleaning fruits and vegetables.

WIPING DOWN CELLPHONES

Kindrachuk said the virus lasts longer on plastic and hard surfaces, explaining it’s usually up to 24 hours, but it can be longer depending on the surface.

He said the amount of virus that needs to be on a surface for someone to touch it, touch themselves and get infected remains unknowns, but suggests using basic sanitation such as soap and water or disinfectant on high-traffic areas like cellphones.

“I’ve seen a number of businesses that have been wiping down the pinpads or the debit machines between touching. Your debit cards, again, that instantaneous touch to the surface of a machine, probably not going to be enough to transfer virus to your card and then ultimately to yourself,” he said.

“But what I would suggest is, again, don’t put your card away and then touch your face and put your hands in your mouth. Have some hand sanitizer or a wipe in your car to basically just be able to give yourself a quick wipe off to try and increase that infection prevention and control.”

DISINFECTING CARS

As for whether a car needs to be disinfected, particularly if someone is routinely getting in and out of it, Kindrachuk said at this point we don’t know the infection rate from the type of contact. He said he believes after 24-hours, the likelihood is, the majority of the virus would no longer be infectious.

“In between those events the best thing, again, have hand sanitizer or wipes in your vehicle if you can so that after basically you get in and get out of your vehicle, you can give yourself a quick wipe and limit the touching of the face. The biggest thing that we can get across to people is that action in particular is going to decrease transmission of this virus substantially,” he said.

- With files from CTV’s Nicole Dube and Rahim Ladhani.