SARS-CoV2 in public spaces in West London, UK during COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND

Spread of SARS-CoV2 by aerosol is considered an important mode of transmission over distances >2 m, particularly indoors.

OBJECTIVES

We determined whether SARS-CoV2 could be detected in the air of enclosed/semi-enclosed public spaces.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Between March 2021 and December 2021 during the easing of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions after a period of lockdown, we used total suspended and size-segregated particulate matter (PM) samplers for the detection of SARS-CoV2 in hospitals wards and waiting areas, on public transport, in a university campus and in a primary school in West London.

RESULTS

We collected 207 samples, of which 20 (9.7%) were positive for SARS-CoV2 using quantitative PCR. Positive samples were collected from hospital patient waiting areas, from hospital wards treating patients with COVID-19 using stationary samplers and from train carriages in London underground using personal samplers. Mean virus concentrations varied between 429 500 copies/m

CONCLUSION

During a period of partial opening during the COVID-19 pandemic in London, we detected SARS-CoV2 RNA in the air of hospital waiting areas and wards and of London Underground train carriage. More research is needed to determine the transmission potential of SARS-CoV2 detected in the air.

Informations de copyright

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Competing interests: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form at www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest/ and declare: support from UKRI EPSRC COVID-19 rapid response grant number EP/V052462/1 for the submitted; no financial relationships with any organisations that might have an interest in the submitted work in the previous 3 years; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.