Saved you a click: > Can Your Microwave at Home Kill Viruses? > The short answer is YES. In fact, there is research on using the microwave in your kitchen to kill lethal viruses like HIV (1). How much for how long? > First, there’s the power of your microwave. This is measured in watts. The higher the watts, the shorter the cooking time. The above study used a wattage of 800. The average microwave oven these days has a wattage of about 1,000 (from my review of what’s being sold on Google). It seems hard to buy a microwave with less than 700 watts, so yours likely has more than enough power. > Second, for how long do you need to cook? The above study observed the destruction of the virus at 2 minutes at 800 watts. So 2 minutes in the average microwave should be more than enough time.