Coronavirus: Woman microwaves £300 to ‘disinfect notes’, but burns them to a crisp

The People’s Bank of China requires all banks to disinfect notes by exposing them to ultraviolet light or high temperatures before releasing to public

A woman has reportedly burnt more than £300 (RMB3,000) worth of bank notes after putting them in a microwave to “disinfect” them.

According to Chinese media, a resident of Jiangyin City in the southern Jiangsu province known only as “Aunt Li” attempted to disinfect the notes because she was worried the coronavirus was present on them.

As many people in China still use cash, Ms Li was concerned the notes had exchanged hands often, including being touched by people infected with the virus.

But after less than a minute in the microwave, the notes began to burn and had turned black.

In a panic, Ms Li took the charred notes to a nearby branch of China CITIC Bank for advice but the cash was unsalvageable, reported Sina Finance.

After carefully screening and authenticating the fragile notes, the bank was able to refund a total of RMB3,125 to Ms Li.

Speaking to Sina Finance, a spokesperson for China CITIC Bank reassured the public all cash drawn from financial institutions was “clean money” as banks have to abide by measures put in place by the People’s Bank of China in February.

Cash from “key areas of epidemic prevention and control” is subjected to ultraviolet light or high temperatures to disinfect the notes, which are then kept for seven to 14 days before being released into the market.

“The cash passing through these processes are very safe,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying. “Despite this, the general public is encouraged to make payments through contactless methods such as bar code payment and credit card payment to the greatest extent possible to block the risk of epidemic transmission.”

There are over 80,000 confirmed cases of the virus on mainland China, with a death toll of 2,981 as of 3 March.