SARS-CoV-2 infection: the environmental endurance of the virus can be influenced by the increase of temperature

Magurano, F.; Baggieri, M.; Marchi, A.; Rezza, G.; Nicoletti, L.; Group, Covid-19 Study

The COVID-19 disease, a respiratory disease transmitted by a new betacoronavirus SARS-CoV-2. As for other viral respiratory agents, SARS-CoV-2 spreads by person to person through respiratory droplets and direct contact and potentially by indirect contact through fomites. The goal of the current study is to evaluate whether the increase of temperature can influence the environmental endurance of SARS-CoV-2.We tested SARS-CoV-2 environmental stability in parallel at room temperature (RT, 20-25 Celsius degrees) and at average maximum temperature of June (JT) estimated at 28 Celsius degrees in Italy. The virus inoculated on plastic surface was harvested at predefined time-points and tested to evaluate viral titres on Vero cells by TCID50. Our results confirm that fomite transmission of the emerging SARS-CoV2 is possible, since the virus remains viable on surfaces up to 84 hours at both RT and JT. Moreover, a remarkable difference between the two temperatures exists, suggesting that virus vitality can be influenced by the environmental temperature. Our results support the hypothesis that in the hot season the increase of temperature could influence the environmental endurance of SARS-CoV2 and reduce Covid-19 transmission probability.