Survival potential and infectiousness of SARS-CoV-2 in environment

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spreads rapidly and widely in the world, which is mainly transmitted through respiratory droplets and contact with contaminated media. In this study, SARS-CoV-2 was found to have a similar stability to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) by analyzing its survival time on different subject surfaces and main influencing factors in related research. SARS-CoV-2 can survive for several days at various subject surfaces or media at room temperature (stainless steel: 2 days, plastic: 3 days, glass: 4 days, etc.), and SARS-CoV-2 can persist for longer time at low temperature and low relative humidity, which has caused severe threat to public health and has posed severe challenges to the prevention and control of COVID-19. According to available data, SARS-CoV-2 has the characteristics of high infectiousness and high covertness, similar to influenza A virus. By understanding the survival potential and infectiousness of SARS-CoV-2 in environment, targeted disinfection and effective protection can be implemented to reduce the incidence of COVID-19.