December 25, 2020.A study has suggested that air sampled from several hospital hallways, ICUs and bathrooms had high levels of coronavirus.

Half of the air samples that were taken from several hospital hallways, ICUs and a fifth from bathrooms had high levels of coronavirus, a study has suggested. In fact, the air sampled in the ICUs were found to be more contaminated than the non-ICUs.

The researchers have found that 17 per cent of air sampled from close patient environments was positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA and one-quarter of all ICU rooms with Covid-19 patients were contaminated from the virus.

The study said 82 of 471 air samples (17.4%) from close patient environments were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, with a significantly higher positivity rate in intensive care unit settings (intensive care unit, 27 of 107 [25.2%] vs non-intensive care unit, 39 of 364 [10.7%].

“Among 2284 records identified, the positivity rate was 5 of 21 air samples (23.8%) in toilets, 20 of 242 (8.3%) in clinical areas, 15 of 122 (12.3%) in staff areas, and 14 of 42 (33.3%) in public areas came back as positive,” the study said.

For the study, the researchers looked for articles covering coronavirus and air contamination between January 1 and October 27. Of the 24 studies, 10 were from China, the United States, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, Iran, the United Kingdom and Italy.

The air samples were taken from close patient environments, in clinical areas away from patients, in staff areas, in toilets and/or bathrooms, and 6 in public areas.

“The results of the positivity rate in ICU and non-ICU patient environments were highly heterogeneous and appeared superior in the ICU when pooling the results. In the ICU, 7 of 12 studies did not find SARS-CoV-2 RNA, whereas the remaining did, with 37.5% to 100% positive samples,” it said.

However, the study said the level of severity of patients’ infections was not associated with increased air contamination.