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

Bin Wan; Xinlian Zhang; Dongxia Luo; Tong Zhang; Xi Chen; Yuhan Yao; Xia Zhao; Limei Lei; Chunmei Liu; Wang Zhao; Lin Zhou; Yuqing Ge; Hongju Mao; Sixiu Liu; Jianmin Chen; Xunjia Cheng; Jianlong Zhao; Guodong Sui

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141758

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

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jan 20:753:141758. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141758. Epub 2020 Aug 18.

Authors

Bin Wan¹, Xinlian Zhang², Dongxia Luo¹, Tong Zhang², Xi Chen², Yuhan Yao², Xia Zhao¹, Limei Lei¹, Chunmei Liu¹, Wang Zhao², Lin Zhou³, Yuqing Ge³, Hongju Mao³, Sixiu Liu², Jianmin Chen⁴, Xunjia Cheng⁵, Jianlong Zhao⁶, Guodong Sui⁷

Affiliations

¹ Public Health Clinical Center of Chengdu, No. 377 Jingming Road, Jinjiang District, Chengdu, Sichuan 610066, China.
² Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP(3)), Department of Environment Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China.
⁴ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP(3)), Department of Environment Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
⁵ Department of Medical Microbiology, Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology of Ministries of Education and Health, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, 131 Dongan Road, Shanghai 200032, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China. Electronic address: jlzhao@mail.sim.ac.cn.
⁷ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP(3)), Department of Environment Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Department of Medical Microbiology, Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology of Ministries of Education and Health, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, 131 Dongan Road, Shanghai 200032, China. Electronic address: gsui@fudan.edu.cn.

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; Isothermal amplification; Surface contamination; Wards.

MeSH terms

Betacoronavirus*
COVID-19
Coronavirus Infections*
Equipment Contamination*
Hospitals
Humans
Pandemics*
Pneumonia, Viral* / epidemiology
SARS-CoV-2