Glasses wearers are three times less likely to catch Covid than people without spectacles because they rub their eyes less often
- Researchers in India studied 304 people with symptoms & checked their vision
- They found lens wearers less likely to catch virus as they touch their face less
- They say risk of Covid-19 is about two to three times less in spectacle-wearers
Glasses wearers are less likely to catch Covid-19 because they rub their eyes less, according to a study.
Researches in India studied 304 people aged between 10 and 80 who reported virus symptoms who were asked about their vision.
Nineteen per cent said they wore spectacles most of the time leading to findings suggesting those who wear glasses for eight hours a day are less likely to catch coronavirus.
People who wear glasses are less likely to catch the virus, according to the study from India
The Sunday Telegraph reported the study saying: ‘The 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.
‘An individual has the habit of touching his face on average 23 times in an hour and his eyes on average three times per hour,’
‘Long-term use of spectacles may prevent repeated touching and rubbing of the eyes.’
Last year researchers from China found COVID-19 patients were five times less likely to have frames than the general population.
The team, from The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, said they believe this is because ACE-2 receptors, which the virus latches onto to enter and infect human cells, can be found in the eyes.
The team says people who wear glasses are less likely to touch their face than those who do not wear them
The study followed another from China which had similar findings last year. Pictured is a ward in King’s College Hospital, London
The authors wrote: ‘Our main finding was that patients with COVID-19 who wear eyeglasses for an extended period every day were relatively uncommon, which could be preliminary evidence that daily wearers of eyeglasses are less susceptible to COVID-19.
‘The eyes are considered an important channel for SARS-CoV-2 to enter the human body.
‘For daily wearers of eyeglasses, who usually wear eyeglasses on social occasions, wearing eyeglasses may become a protective factor, reducing the risk of virus transfer to the eyes and leading to long-term daily wearers of eyeglasses being rarely infected with COVID- 19.’