COVID-19 has spread rapidly worldwide. The role of fomites in facilitating onward transmission is plausible. This study aimed to determine the presence of viable virus and its persistence on the surfaces of fomites in wards treating COVID-19 patients in Malaysia. This study was conducted in two stages. First, environmental sampling was performed on random days in the intensive care unit (ICU) and general wards. Then, in the second stage, samples were collected serially on alternate days for 7 days in two selected general wards. In Stage 1, a total of 104 samples were collected from the surfaces of highly touched and used areas by patients and healthcare workers. Only three samples were tested positive for SARS-COV-2. In Stage 2, three surface samples were detected positive, but no persistence of the virus was observed. However, none of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA was viable through tissue culture. Overall, the environmental contamination of SARS-CoV-2 was low in this hospital setting. Hospitals' strict infection control and the compliance of patients with wearing masks may have played a role in these findings, suggesting adherence to those measures to reduce occupational exposure of COVID-19 in hospital settings.

The pandemic caused by COVID-19 that is plaguing the whole world at this point is currently a major threat on global health. However, similar to many other respiratory disease outbreaks in the past, this virus also has environmental implications, with its spread being substantially affected by the environmental conditions of a locality. Also, the lockdown measure undertaken as a protective measure against the spread of the disease is affecting the global environment. There have been numerous studies around the world to find the correlation between transmission and severity Coronavirus related disease and mortality with environmental parameters. These parameters included temperature, air pollution, climate factors, humidity, wind speed, atmospheric pressure and many more with COVID-19 outbreak. It was found that meteorological factors may show an independent part in the spread of COVID-19. Considering the other side of the coin, the world prior to this Coronavirus outbreak was facing air pollution, global warming, sound pollution and many more environmental adversities. However, since the beginning of the lockdown period a major change has been noticed in terms of various environmental parameters that measure the quality of the environment around the globe. This study is an attempt to conduct a comparative study on the correlation amid environmental influences and the COVID-19 outbreak around the world.