Stability of SARS‐CoV‐2 and other coronaviruses in the environment and on common touch surfaces and the influence of climatic conditions: A review

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Abstract

Although the unprecedented efforts the world has been taking to control the spread of the human coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) and its causative aetiology [severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2)], the number of confirmed cases has been increasing drastically. Therefore, there is an urgent need for devising more efficient preventive measures, to limit the spread of the infection until an effective treatment or vaccine is available. The preventive measures depend mainly on the understanding of the transmission routes of this virus, its environmental stability, and its persistence on common touch surfaces. Due to the very limited knowledge about SARS‐CoV‐2, we can speculate its stability in the light of previous studies conducted on other human and animal coronaviruses. In this review, we present the available data on the stability of coronaviruses (CoVs), including SARS‐CoV‐2, from previous reports to help understand its environmental survival. According to available data, possible airborne transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 has been suggested. SARS‐CoV‐2 and other human and animal CoVs have remarkably short persistence on copper, latex and surfaces with low porosity as compared to other surfaces like stainless steel, plastics, glass and highly porous fabrics. It has also been reported that SARS‐CoV‐2 is associated with diarrhoea and that it is shed in the faeces of COVID‐19 patients. Some CoVs show persistence in human excrement, sewage and waters for a few days. These findings suggest a possible risk of faecal–oral, foodborne and waterborne transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 in developing countries that often use sewage‐polluted waters in irrigation and have poor water treatment systems. CoVs survive longer in the environment at lower temperatures and lower relative humidity. It has been suggested that large numbers of COVID‐19 cases are associated with cold and dry climates in temperate regions of the world and that seasonality of the virus spread is suspected.

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Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1

Neeltje van Doremalen, Trenton Bushmaker, Dylan H Morris … (2021)

To the Editor: A novel human coronavirus that is now named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (formerly called HCoV-19) emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and is now causing a pandemic. 1 We analyzed the aerosol and surface stability of SARS-CoV-2 and compared it with SARS-CoV-1, the most closely related human coronavirus. 2 We evaluated the stability of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 in aerosols and on various surfaces and estimated their decay rates using a Bayesian regression model (see the Methods section in the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text of this letter at NEJM.org). SARS-CoV-2 nCoV-WA1-2020 (MN985325.1) and SARS-CoV-1 Tor2 (AY274119.3) were the strains used. Aerosols (<5 μm) containing SARS-CoV-2 (105.25 50% tissue-culture infectious dose [TCID50] per milliliter) or SARS-CoV-1 (106.75-7.00 TCID50 per milliliter) were generated with the use of a three-jet Collison nebulizer and fed into a Goldberg drum to create an aerosolized environment. The inoculum resulted in cycle-threshold values between 20 and 22, similar to those observed in samples obtained from the upper and lower respiratory tract in humans. Our data consisted of 10 experimental conditions involving two viruses (SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1) in five environmental conditions (aerosols, plastic, stainless steel, copper, and cardboard). All experimental measurements are reported as means across three replicates. SARS-CoV-2 remained viable in aerosols throughout the duration of our experiment (3 hours), with a reduction in infectious titer from 103.5 to 102.7 TCID50 per liter of air. This reduction was similar to that observed with SARS-CoV-1, from 104.3 to 103.5 TCID50 per milliliter (Figure 1A). SARS-CoV-2 was more stable on plastic and stainless steel than on copper and cardboard, and viable virus was detected up to 72 hours after application to these surfaces (Figure 1A), although the virus titer was greatly reduced (from 103.7 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter of medium after 72 hours on plastic and from 103.7 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter after 48 hours on stainless steel). The stability kinetics of SARS-CoV-1 were similar (from 103.4 to 100.7 TCID50 per milliliter after 72 hours on plastic and from 103.6 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter after 48 hours on stainless steel). On copper, no viable SARS-CoV-2 was measured after 4 hours and no viable SARS-CoV-1 was measured after 8 hours. On cardboard, no viable SARS-CoV-2 was measured after 24 hours and no viable SARS-CoV-1 was measured after 8 hours (Figure 1A). Both viruses had an exponential decay in virus titer across all experimental conditions, as indicated by a linear decrease in the log10TCID50 per liter of air or milliliter of medium over time (Figure 1B). The half-lives of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 were similar in aerosols, with median estimates of approximately 1.1 to 1.2 hours and 95% credible intervals of 0.64 to 2.64 for SARS-CoV-2 and 0.78 to 2.43 for SARS-CoV-1 (Figure 1C, and Table S1 in the Supplementary Appendix). The half-lives of the two viruses were also similar on copper. On cardboard, the half-life of SARS-CoV-2 was longer than that of SARS-CoV-1. The longest viability of both viruses was on stainless steel and plastic; the estimated median half-life of SARS-CoV-2 was approximately 5.6 hours on stainless steel and 6.8 hours on plastic (Figure 1C). Estimated differences in the half-lives of the two viruses were small except for those on cardboard (Figure 1C). Individual replicate data were noticeably “noisier” (i.e., there was more variation in the experiment, resulting in a larger standard error) for cardboard than for other surfaces (Fig. S1 through S5), so we advise caution in interpreting this result. We found that the stability of SARS-CoV-2 was similar to that of SARS-CoV-1 under the experimental circumstances tested. This indicates that differences in the epidemiologic characteristics of these viruses probably arise from other factors, including high viral loads in the upper respiratory tract and the potential for persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 to shed and transmit the virus while asymptomatic. 3,4 Our results indicate that aerosol and fomite transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is plausible, since the virus can remain viable and infectious in aerosols for hours and on surfaces up to days (depending on the inoculum shed). These findings echo those with SARS-CoV-1, in which these forms of transmission were associated with nosocomial spread and super-spreading events, 5 and they provide information for pandemic mitigation efforts.

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A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster

Jasper Chan, Shuofeng Yuan, Kin-Hang Kok … (2020)

Summary Background An ongoing outbreak of pneumonia associated with a novel coronavirus was reported in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China. Affected patients were geographically linked with a local wet market as a potential source. No data on person-to-person or nosocomial transmission have been published to date. Methods In this study, we report the epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, radiological, and microbiological findings of five patients in a family cluster who presented with unexplained pneumonia after returning to Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, after a visit to Wuhan, and an additional family member who did not travel to Wuhan. Phylogenetic analysis of genetic sequences from these patients were done. Findings From Jan 10, 2020, we enrolled a family of six patients who travelled to Wuhan from Shenzhen between Dec 29, 2019 and Jan 4, 2020. Of six family members who travelled to Wuhan, five were identified as infected with the novel coronavirus. Additionally, one family member, who did not travel to Wuhan, became infected with the virus after several days of contact with four of the family members. None of the family members had contacts with Wuhan markets or animals, although two had visited a Wuhan hospital. Five family members (aged 36–66 years) presented with fever, upper or lower respiratory tract symptoms, or diarrhoea, or a combination of these 3–6 days after exposure. They presented to our hospital (The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen) 6–10 days after symptom onset. They and one asymptomatic child (aged 10 years) had radiological ground-glass lung opacities. Older patients (aged >60 years) had more systemic symptoms, extensive radiological ground-glass lung changes, lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, and increased C-reactive protein and lactate dehydrogenase levels. The nasopharyngeal or throat swabs of these six patients were negative for known respiratory microbes by point-of-care multiplex RT-PCR, but five patients (four adults and the child) were RT-PCR positive for genes encoding the internal RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and surface Spike protein of this novel coronavirus, which were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis of these five patients' RT-PCR amplicons and two full genomes by next-generation sequencing showed that this is a novel coronavirus, which is closest to the bat severe acute respiatory syndrome (SARS)-related coronaviruses found in Chinese horseshoe bats. Interpretation Our findings are consistent with person-to-person transmission of this novel coronavirus in hospital and family settings, and the reports of infected travellers in other geographical regions. Funding The Shaw Foundation Hong Kong, Michael Seak-Kan Tong, Respiratory Viral Research Foundation Limited, Hui Ming, Hui Hoy and Chow Sin Lan Charity Fund Limited, Marina Man-Wai Lee, the Hong Kong Hainan Commercial Association South China Microbiology Research Fund, Sanming Project of Medicine (Shenzhen), and High Level-Hospital Program (Guangdong Health Commission).

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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): The epidemic and the challenges

Chih-Cheng Lai, Tzu-Ping Shih, Wen-Chien Ko … (2020)

Highlights • Emergence of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China has caused a large global outbreak and major public health issue. • At 9 February 2020, data from the WHO has shown >37 000 confirmed cases in 28 countries (>99% of cases detected in China). • 2019-nCoV is spread by human-to-human transmission via droplets or direct contact. • Infection estimated to have an incubation period of 2–14 days and a basic reproduction number of 2.24–3.58. • Controlling infection to prevent spread of the 2019-nCoV is the primary intervention being used.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Hamada A. Aboubakr:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8233-2353

aboub006@umn.edu

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Transbound Emerg Dis

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Transbound Emerg Dis

Journal ID (doi): 10.1111/(ISSN)1865-1682

Journal ID (publisher-id): TBED

Title: Transboundary and Emerging Diseases

Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc. (Hoboken )

ISSN (Print): 1865-1674

ISSN (Electronic): 1865-1682

Publication date (Electronic): 14 July 2020

Electronic Location Identifier: 10.1111/tbed.13707

Affiliations

[ ¹ ] Department of Veterinary Population Medicine University of Minnesota St. Paul MN USA

[ ² ] Department of Food Science and Technology Faculty of Agriculture Alexandria University Alexandria Egypt

Author notes

[*] [* ] Correspondence

Hamada A. Aboubakr, Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, University of Minnesota, 1333 Gortner Ave, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.

Email: aboub006@ 123456umn.edu

Author information

Hamada A. Aboubakr https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8233-2353

Tamer A. Sharafeldin https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6422-4730

Sagar M. Goyal https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7781-3080

Article

Publisher ID: TBED13707

DOI: 10.1111/tbed.13707

PMC ID: 7361302

PubMed ID: 32603505

SO-VID: e8240a52-e47c-4f5e-bb2a-18cf148cfacd

License:

This article is being made freely available through PubMed Central as part of the COVID-19 public health emergency response. It can be used for unrestricted research re-use and analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source, for the duration of the public health emergency.

History

Date received : 29 April 2020

Date revision received : 23 June 2020

Date accepted : 24 June 2020

Page count

Figures: 1, Tables: 5, Pages: 17, Words: 33003

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details-of-publishers-convertor Converter:WILEY_ML3GV2_TO_JATSPMC version:5.8.5 mode:remove_FC converted:15.07.2020

ScienceOpen disciplines: Infectious disease & Microbiology

Keywords: animal coronaviruses,common touch surfaces,covid‐19,environmental conditions,fomites,human coronaviruses,inanimate surfaces,persistence,sars‐cov‐2,stability,survivability,virus survival

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Infectious disease & Microbiology

Keywords: animal coronaviruses, common touch surfaces, covid‐19, environmental conditions, fomites, human coronaviruses, inanimate surfaces, persistence, sars‐cov‐2, stability, survivability, virus survival

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Stability of SARS‐CoV‐2 and other coronaviruses in the environment and on common touch surfaces and the influence of climatic conditions: A review

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Novel Coronavirus Disease COVID-19

Most cited references 61

Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1

A familial cluster of pneumonia associated with the 2019 novel coronavirus indicating person-to-person transmission: a study of a family cluster

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): The epidemic and the challenges

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