Using global rates of new infections with the pandemic disease,
coupled with estimations of viral load, Bath University maths expert
Kit Yates worked out there are around two quintillion - or two
billion billion - SARS-CoV-2 virus particles in the world at any one
time.
Detailing the steps in his calculations, Yates said he used the
diameter of SARS-CoV-2 - at an average of about 100 nanometers, or
100 billionths of a meter - and then figured out the volume of the
spherical virus.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Feb/10/images/ads/current/christianvillage_sda_SPONSOR_042720.png)
Even accounting for the coronavirus' projecting spike proteins and
the fact that the spherical particles will leave gaps when stacked
together, the total is still less than in a single 330 millilitre
(ml) cola can, he said.
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![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2021/Feb/10/images/ads/current/ccaonline_lda050208.png) "It's astonishing to think that
all the trouble, the disruption, the hardship
and the loss of life that has resulted over the
last year could constitute just a few
mouthfuls," Yates said in a statement.
More than 2.34 million people have died in the
COVID-19 pandemic so far, and there have been
almost 107 million confirmed cases worldwide.
(Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Alexandra
Hudson)
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