Detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 from the Surface of Hospitals and Public Facilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Eastern Ethiopia: Evidence for Surface Transmission

Abstract

Background: Humans acquired Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 through respiratory droplets expelled by infected individuals during coughing, sneezing, and touching contaminated surfaces. However, there is no
available data regarding environmental surface contamination in hospitals and public facilities in Ethiopia. Therefore,
this study aimed to detect Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 on the surfaces of hospitals and public
facilities in eastern Ethiopia during the Coronavirus-19 pandemic, from April 15 to May 15, 2021.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken, involving the collection of 384 swab samples from commonly
touched surfaces in selected areas such as hospitals, automated teller machines, public transport, and game zones. The
presence of viral nucleic acid was identified using a Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Subsequently,
descriptive statistics were employed to summarize the findings
Results: The overall contamination of the swab environmental surfaces in hospital and community facilities with
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 was 12% (95% CI: 8.7, 15.2%). The virus was detected in 29.1%
(32/110), of hospitals (3.6%, 1/28), automated teller machines (1.8%, 4/219), public transport, and 33.3% (9/27) of
game zones. Surfaces in the surgical ward (5/6) from the hospital and gaming zone (33.3%) from the community
facility were more commonly contaminated by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2.
Conclusions: In this study, more than one in ten of the screened environmental surfaces were contaminated with
SARS-CoV-2. Surfaces in hospitals and gaming areas have significant Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 levels. Strong preventive and control measures focus on cleaning hand contact surfaces
using appropriate chemicals to avoid viral spread across the population.