Survey on the viral contamination of environmental surfaces around patients with COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has contributed to significant morbidity and mortality globally. Despite prior findings detecting SARS-CoV-2 genes on environmental surfaces, little research has examined the role of environmental viruses on disease spread. Thus, the present study examined the SARS-CoV-2 contamination in the hospital setting. In the study, 14 sites in the hospital room and one site on the back of nurses’ scrubs were sampled for virus detection. Of the 134 collected samples, 66 were positive for viral RNA (49.3%). Viral RNA detection rates were highest for samples obtained from patients’ masks and pajamas, and the likelihood of viral positivity decreased with increasing distance from the patient’s mouth. Meanwhile, SARS-CoV-2 was detected at sites distant from the patient’s mouth, including the shower room and patient room doorknobs, indicating the potential for the virus to spread through hand contact by infected patients. In addition, infectious virus was detected in 3 samples (2.2%). To our knowledge, this is the first report of SARS-CoV-2, which retain infectious, detected on environmental surfaces. Our findings illustrated the need for frequent cleaning of surfaces to prevent the in-hospital spread of COVID-19.