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SPECIAL SERIES ONLY COVIdences on SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19): Environmental stability (Part 8)

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Dr KK Aggarwal    08 April 2020

(Source: DHS Science and Technology, Master Question List for COVID-19 (caused by SARS-CoV-2), Weekly Report, 18 March 2020)

 How long does the agent live in the environment?

What is known?

SARS-CoV-2 Data

  • SARS-CoV-2 can persist on plastic and stainless steel surfaces for up to 3 days (at 21-23oC, 40% RH), with a half-life of 13-16 hours.1
  • It has an aerosol half-life of 2.7 hours (particles <5 μm, tested at 21-23oC and 65% RH).1

Alternate Coronavirus data

  • Other coronaviruses have been shown to survive on non-porous surfaces for up to 9-10 days (MHV, SARS-CoV)2,3 and porous surfaces for up to 3-5 days (SARS-CoV)4 in air conditioned environments (20-25oC, 40-50% RH).
  • Survival of coronavirus seems to be higher at lower temperatures and lower relative humidity (RH);2,3,5,6 however, the infectious virus can persist on surfaces for several days in typical office or hospital conditions. 6
  • SARS can persist with trace infectivity for up to 28 days at refrigerated temperatures (4oC) on surfaces. 2
  • Beta-coronaviruses (e.g., SARS-CoV) seem to be more stable than alpha-coronaviruses (HCoV-229E). 5
  • There is no strong evidence for reduction in transmission with seasonal increase in temperature and humidity. 7
  • It has been noted that one hour after aerosolization, approximately 63% of airborne MERS virus remained viable in a simulated office environment (25oC, 75% RH).8
  • The aerosol survival of related human coronavirus (229E) has been shown to be relatively high, (half-life of ~67 hours at 20oC and 50%RH), suggesting that ~20% of infectious virus remained after 6 days. 9 Both higher and lower RH reduced HCoV-229E survival; lower temperatures improved survival. 9

What do we need to know?

  • Stability of SARS-CoV-2 in aerosol, droplets, and other matrices (mucus/sputum, feces)
  • Particle size distribution (e.g., droplet, large droplet and true aerosol distribution)
  • Duration of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity through fomites and surface (contact hazard)?
  • Stability of SARS-CoV-2 on PPE (e.g., Tyvek, nitrile, etc.)

References

  1. van Doremalen N, Bushmaker T, Morris D, Holbrook M, Gamble A, Williamson B, et al. Aerosol and surface stability of HCoV-19 (SARS-CoV-2) compared to SARS-CoV-1. medRxiv 2020, 2020.03.09.20033217.
  2. Casanova LM, Jeon S, Rutala WA, Weber DJ, Sobsey MD. Effects of air temperature and relative humidity on coronavirus survival on surfaces. Applied and environmental microbiology 2010, 76 (9), 2712-2717.
  3. Chan KH, Peiris JS, Lam SY, Poon LL, Yuen KY, Seto WH. The Effects of Temperature and Relative Humidity on the Viability of the SARS Coronavirus. Adv Virol 2011, 2011, 734690.
  4. Duan SM, Zhao XS, Wen RF, Huang JJ, Pi GH, Zhang SX, et al. Stability of SARS coronavirus in human specimens and environment and its sensitivity to heating and UV irradiation. Biomed Environ Sci 2003, 16 (3), 246-55.
  5. Rabenau HF, Cinatl J, Morgenstern B, Bauer G, Preiser W, Doerr HW. Stability and inactivation of SARS coronavirus. Med Microbiol Immunol 2005, 194 (1-2), 1-6.
  6. van Doremalen N, Bushmaker T, Munster VJ. Stability of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) under different environmental conditions. Euro Surveill 2013, 18 (38).
  7. Luo W, Majumder MS, Liu D, Poirier C, Mandl KD, Lipsitch M. The role of absolute humidity on transmission rates of the COVID-19 outbreak. medRxiv 2020, 2020.02.12.20022467.
  8. Pyankov OV, Bodnev SA, Pyankova OG, Agranovski IE. Survival of aerosolized coronavirus in the ambient air. Journal of Aerosol Science 2018, 115, 158-163
  9. Ijaz MK, Brunner AH, Sattar SA, Nair RC, Johnson-Lussenburg CM. Survival characteristics of airborne human coronavirus 229E. J Gen Virol 1985, 66 (Pt 12), 2743-8.

Dr KK Aggarwal

President CMAAO

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