How long can Coronavirus survive on surfaces?


Survival of Corona Virus in the Air and on the Surfaces
Research done at the National Institute of Health, USA
Published  in the New England Journal Of Medicine 17 March 2020
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973?query=RP

The scientists at the NIH have researched the behavior of the Covid-19 related corona virus in the laboratory and compared it to the SARS related virus (another corona virus). The authors caution that the results should be interpreted with caution because of variables and the fact that the data is based on simulated laboratory environments.
For the full article, please use the link to the medical journal provided above.

What I learn from this laboratory study is that SARS and the Covid-19 related viruses were compared in the lab as to how long they hung on in the air or on various surfaces, they behaved similarly. The authors state that perhaps the difference between SARS and Covid-19 depends on the amount of virus particles coughed up by the infected person, the scientists refer to as the “inoculum”.  

The study also looked at the period of time the corona virus stayed alive and infectious on various surfaces. The study showed (please see the graph below) that the virus can stay alive longer on plastic surfaces than cardboard or steel. Please bear in mind that the survival is based on indoor laboratory environment (simulating the real life experience).

The following is the summary offered by the authors. The text and material in parenthesis and in italics is mine for explanation purpose. The graph below is from the paper and is illustrative.

The authors state:

“We found that the stability of SARS-CoV-2 (the current corona virus that causes Covid-19 illness) was similar to SARS-CoV-1 under the experimental circumstances tested.

This indicates that differences in the epidemiologic characteristics of these viruses probably arise from other factors, including high viral loads in the upper respiratory tract and the potential for persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 to shed and transmit the virus while asymptomatic.

(it means that in the cough or sneeze of an infected person, the quantity of the virus determines how long the virus will survive in the air. The higher the number of virus particles, the longer that may hang around in the air after a cough or sneeze)

Our results indicate that aerosol (spread by cough or sneeze from the infected person who may or not be sick) and fomite ( various surfaces or objects that carry the virus) transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is plausible, since the virus can remain viable and infectious in aerosols (air) for hours (little over 3 hours) and on surfaces up to days ( 2 - 3 days) depending on the inoculum shed (quantity of the virus spread on the surfaces). These findings echo those with SARS-CoV-1, in which these forms of transmission were associated with nosocomial spread (spread in the healthcare facilities) and super-spreading events, and they provide information for pandemic mitigation efforts”.
 



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