Firstly, everyone deserves our concerns with the present Coronavirus “pandemic” (hopefully it will not officially become one!). Besides the good advice on, remaining two meters from other people, sneezing into your elbow etc, increased use of card payments can prove another means of non-transmission.
*We are advised by the WHO to take the precautionary steps of Wash your hands frequently
Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water. Why? Washing your hands with soap and water or using alcohol-based hand rub kills viruses that may be on your hands.
Maintain social distancing: Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing. Why? When someone coughs or sneezes, they spray small liquid droplets from their nose or mouth which may contain virus. If you are too close, you can breathe in the droplets, including the COVID-19 virus if the person coughing has the disease.
Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth: Why? Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses. Once contaminated, hands can transfer the virus to your eyes, nose or mouth. From there, the virus can enter your body and can make you sick.
Practice respiratory hygiene. Make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene. This means covering your mouth and nose with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Then dispose of the used tissue immediately. Why? Droplets spread virus. By following good respiratory hygiene, you protect the people around you from viruses such as cold, flu and COVID-19.
While observing all the above is rational means to lessen transmission, as the virus can be transmitted by body to body contact, and minimising cash transactions could provide another means to prevent transmission.
Research by the London Metropolitan University also discovered that £5 and £10 notes already in circulation held eight types of bacteria between them.
Using a contactless card to make transactions can be so much safer than handling notes and coins which can hold life-threatening bugs, whereas a debit or credit card is easy to keep clean."
In summary, looking at the scientific evidence, people who use card payments instead could be saving themselves from a number of possible health risks."
*https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public