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. 2021 Dec 1:798:149231.
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149231. Epub 2021 Jul 24.

Surface contamination with SARS-CoV-2: A systematic review

José Gonçalves  1 , Priscilla Gomes da Silva  2 , Luís Reis  3 , Maria São José Nascimento  4 , Tom Koritnik  5 , Metka Paragi  5 , João R Mesquita  6
Affiliations

Surface contamination with SARS-CoV-2: A systematic review

José Gonçalves et al. Sci Total Environ. .

Abstract

Little is known about contaminated surfaces as a route of transmission for SARS-CoV- 2 and a systematic review is missing and urgently needed to provide guidelines for future research studies. As such, the aim of the present study was to review the current scientific knowledge and to summarize the existing studies in which SARS-CoV-2 has been detected in inanimate surfaces. This systematic review includes studies since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, available in PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus. Duplicate publications were removed, and exclusion criteria was applied to eliminate unrelated studies, resulting in 37 eligible publications. The present study provides the first overview of SARS-CoV-2 detection in surfaces. The highest detection rates occurred in hospitals and healthcare facilities with COVID-19 patients. Contamination with SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces was detected in a wide range of facilities and surfaces. There is a lack of studies performing viability testing for SARS-CoV-2 recovered from surfaces, and consequently it is not yet possible to assess the potential for transmission via surfaces.

Keywords: COVID-19; Environmental contamination; Environmental health; Public health; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

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Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow diagram for inclusion of studies. PRISMA. PRISMA, Preferred Reporting of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis; LILACS, Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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