On-site analysis of COVID-19 on the surfaces in wards

Abstract

SARS-Cov-2 has erupted across the globe, and confirmed cases of COVID-19 pose a high infection risk. Infected patients typically receive their treatment in specific isolation wards, where they are confined for at least 14 days. The virus may contaminate any surface of the room, especially frequently touched surfaces. Therefore, surface contamination in wards should be monitored for disease control and hygiene purposes. Herein, surface contamination in the ward was detected on-site using an RNA extraction-free rapid method. The whole detection process, from surface sample collection to readout of the detection results, was finished within 45 min. The nucleic acid extraction-free method requires minimal labor. More importantly, the tests were performed on-site and the results were obtained almost in real-time. The test confirmed that 31 patients contaminated seven individual sites. Among the sampled surfaces, the electrocardiogram fingertip presented a 72.7% positive rate, indicating that this surface is an important hygiene site. Meanwhile, the bedrails showed the highest correlation with other surfaces, so should be detected daily. Another surface with high contamination risk was the door handle in the bathroom. To our knowledge, we present the first on-site analysis of COVID-19 surface contamination in wards. The results and applied technique provide a potential further reference for disease control and hygiene suggestions.

Investigation of SARS CoV-2 virus in environmental surface

“…Moreover, we believe that examination room floor and corona wards floor are high-risk surfaces that contribute in spreading the virus and need to be targeted for extra cleaning. Wan et al (2020) attempted to identify the coronavirus at different surfaces of the hospital and revealed that a number of different samples taken from hospital surfaces such as handles, cupboards and light switches, door handle were positive for coronavirus ( Bloise et al, 2020 ), which was consistent with the results of the present study. Chia et al (2020a , b) also examined the identification of SARS-CoV-2 in hospital rooms of infected patients.…”

“…In fact, multiple surface contamination samples were from different wards before the daily cleaning and disinfection processes. These tests confirmed that 31 patients contaminated seven sites and among the collected sampled surfaces, the electrocardiogram fingertip presented a 72.7% positive rate, indicating that this surface should be considered as an important hygiene site, where more viruses can concentrate ( Wan et al, 2020 ). Moreover, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected on 30 (8.9%) of 336 environmental surfaces.…”

The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic in hospital: An insight into environmental surfaces contamination, disinfectants’ efficiency, and estimation of plastic waste production

“…The inanimate environmental surfaces, especially frequently-touched surfaces, are one of the most important factors for virus transmission. Therefore, environmental surface contamination in different wards of the hospitals should be monitored to achieve hygiene goals and disease control ( Noorimotlagh et al, 2020 ; Moore et al, 2021 ; Wan et al, 2021 ). In this regard, in order to investigate the contaminated frequently-touched environmental surfaces, a total of 76 samples of SARS-CoV-2 were collected from different wards of a hospital designated for COVID-19 patients, while local officials had declared that the new variant of concern (VOC) 202012/01 (lineage B.1.1.7) had spread throughout Iran, especially Shoushtar city.…”

What is the risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 from the use of public toilets?

“…Studies of SARS-CoV-2 in toilets have so far been conducted in healthcare environments, which have higher frequency of, and more thorough, cleaning regimens than public toilets (Birgand et al, 2020;Cheng et al, 2020;Chia et al, 2020;D'Accolti et al, 2020;Jiang et al, 2020;Razzini et al, 2020;Santarpia et al, 2020;Shimabukuro et al, 2020;Wan et al, 2021;Ye et al, 2020). Despite this, faecal-derived aerosols in patients' toilets contained most of the detected SARS-CoV-2 in one hospital (Ding et al, 2020).…”

“…Furthermore, fomite contamination offers a host of possible transmission pathways via hand touch surfaces after toilet flushing or direct touch from contaminated hands (e.g. toilet door handles: Cheng et al, 2020;Moore et al, 2021;sink: D'Accolti et al, 2020;Döhla et al, 2020;Gautret et al, 2020;Ge et al, 2021; taps, paper towel dispenser, hand dryers, bathroom door handles, etc., Lam et al, 2021;Verani et al, 2014;Wan et al, 2021; toilet flush: Ge et al, 2021; and toilet paper dispenser: Sassi et al, 2018). These may be contaminated with infective excreta, saliva and/or nasopharyngeal fluids unless sites are cleaned regularly (Chia et al, 2020;Ding et al, 2020;Ong et al, 2020).…”