Abstract

In December 2019, a pneumonia outbreak was reported in Wuhan, China. On 31 December 2019, the outbreak was traced to a novel strain of coronavirus, which was given the interim name 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization (WHO), later renamed SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The pandemic has resulted in travel restrictions and nationwide lockdowns in many countries. Since the main way to prevent the spread of this disease around the world is disinfection and hygiene, it seems to us that the use of the bactericidal effect of silver shown in this paper would be interesting for further fight against this plague. Silver can be found in native form, alloyed with gold or combined with sulfur, arsenic, antimony or chlorine in ores such as argentite (Ag2S), horn silver (AgCl), and pyrargyrite (Ag3SbS3). Pure silver has the highest thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity. Silver is used in photography, electronics, for making mirrors and optics, in solder and brazing, as money and as catalyst.