Evidence of the presence of SARS‐CoV‐2 virus in atmospheric air and surfaces of a dedicated COVID hospital

Abstract

The present study was conducted from July 1, 2020 to September 25, 2020 in a dedicated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) hospital in Delhi, India to provide evidence for the presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) virus in atmospheric air and surfaces of the hospital wards. Swabs from hospital surfaces (patient's bed, ward floor, and nursing stations area) and suspended particulate matter in ambient air were collected by a portable air sampler from the medicine ward, intensive care unit, and emergency ward admitting COVID‐19 patients. By performing reverse‐transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) for E‐gene and RdRp gene, SARS‐CoV‐2 virus was detected from hospital surfaces and particulate matters from the ambient air of various wards collected at 1 and 3‐m distance from active COVID‐19 patients. The presence of the virus in the air beyond a 1‐m distance from the patients and surfaces of the hospital indicates that the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus has the potential to be transmitted by airborne and surface routes from COVID‐19 patients to health‐care workers working in COVID‐19 dedicated hospital. This warrants that precautions against airborne and surface transmission of COVID‐19 in the community should be taken when markets, industries, educational institutions, and so on, reopen for normal activities.

Is safe distance enough to prevent COVID-19? Dispersion and tracking of aerosols in various artificial ventilation conditions using OpenFOAM

“…To validate the simulated results of the DPM model, a test case was simulated and compared with the result of Han et al (2019) for the ventilation in a room. Further, the results were also validated with an onsite sample collection in a SARS-CoV-2 dedicated hospital performed by Dubey et al (2021) .…”

“…The study has proceeded for the further and most important validation. The sample collection of aerosols containing SARS CoV-2 RNA has been performed by Dubey et al (2021) The study was conducted in the various ward of COVID dedicated hospital. It was not possible to create geometry and simulate a model for the entire hospital ward.…”

“…3 . A 3D geometry was created according to the hospital data provided by Dubey et al (2021) . For particle tracking, researchers used vacuum motor with sampler installed in it at 1.5, 16.7 and 27 LPM flow rates.…”

Elucidating the role of environmental management of forests, air quality, solid waste and wastewater on the dissemination of SARS-CoV-2

“…In terms of worldwide research, Bangladesh and Central African Republic are the only least developed countries found to test indoor air for SARS-CoV-2 ( Harries et al, 2020 ; Akter et al, 2021 ; UNDESA, 2021). India, Iran, China, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Vietnam, Russia and Nigeria are the only developing countries found to test or speculate for indoor SARS-CoV-2 ( Kwon et al, 2020 ; Adeniran et al, 2021 ; Alkalamouni et al, 2021 ; Bazzazpour et al 2021 ; Chau et al, 2021 ; Dubey et al, 2021 ; Hu et al, 2021; Hu wang et al, 2021 ; Nor et al, 2021 ; Noureddine et al, 2021 ; Passos et al 2021 ; Pochtovyi et al, 2021 ; Salihefendic et al, 2021 ; World Bank, 2021 ).…”

Evaluation of Performance of Detection of Immunoglobulin G and Immunoglobulin M Antibody Against Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2 by a Rapid Kit in a Real-Life Hospital Setting

“…The world is facing the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has become a public health event of international concern ( Afzal, 2020 ; Dubey et al, 2020 , 2021 ; Feng et al, 2020 ; He et al, 2020 ; Nilsson et al, 2021 ). Accurate and rapid diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is needed for prompt and effective patient care.…”