FIG 1 .

Persistence of infectious human coronavirus on common surface materials. Approximately 10³ PFU HuCoV-229E (20 µl infected-cell lysate) was applied to 1-cm² coupons of test surface materials and incubated at ambient conditions (21°C; relative humidity, 30% to 40%). Virus was removed and assayed for infectivity at various time points as described in the text. Although the initial inoculum concentration was quite low, the virus retained infectivity for 5 days on all surfaces, except silicon rubber. Therefore, natural contamination of common surface material with very few coronavirus particles could represent a considerable risk of infection spread if touched and transferred to facial mucosa. Error bars represent ± SEM, and data are from the results of multiple experiments.