A new study has shown that people who wear glasses are less likely to get infected with the deadly coronavirus.
Touching the face, nose, mouth and eyes after coming into contact with the virus could lead to infection, but people who wear glasses rub their eyes less, according to researchers in India. This makes them two to three times less likely of being infected.
In a non-peer reviewed study published on the website medRxiv, the researchers studied 304 people (223 male and 81 female) at a hospital in northern India over two weeks last summer.
The patients were aged between 10 and 80 and had all reported Covid symptoms. Of those, 19 per cent said they wore glasses most of the time.
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“An individual has the habit of touching his own face on average 23 times in an hour and his eyes on average three times per hour,” the study states.
“The present study showed that the risk of Covid-19 was about two to three times less in spectacles wearing population than the population not wearing those.”
The researchers said tear ducts could be the route of transmission of the virus, carrying it into the nasal cavity.
According to their report, those who wear glasses for more than eight hours a day were least likely to catch the virus.
“Touching and rubbing of the eyes with contaminated hands may be a significant route of infection,” the study states.
“Long term use of spectacles may prevent repeated touching and rubbing of the eyes.”