Catch Me if You Can – ECB Reports on Cash and COVID

A new report published last month – ‘Catch Me (If You Can): Assessing the Risk of SARS-CoV-2 Transmission via Euro Cash’ – by the European Central Bank (ECB) sought to answer key questions such as, how long do coronaviruses remain infectious on banknotes and coins? Is it possible to become infected through contact with cash?

This Occasional Paper Series, written in collaboration with the Department of Medical and Molecular Virology at Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, concluded that the risk is minimal.

The report was conducted and presented in two parts. First, it looked at how demand for, and use of, euro cash changed during the pandemic, to provide context. Second, it dispelled concerns about contacting the virus from cash transactions.

Developments in cash circulation