Table 2.

Presence and persistence of coronavirus in water-food-environment media

Matrix	Samples	Location	Virus type	Persistence	Main findings	Reference
Water/wastewater/sewage/river	Pasteurized and Unpasteurized wastewater	Michigan, USA	MHV, φ6, and MS2 and T3	MHV and φ6 persisted (T90%) for 13 and 7 h, respectively, at 25 °C in unpasteurized wastewater with lesser persistent in pasteurized wastewater at 10 °C, while MS2 persisted for 121 h. T3 persisted much longer than other surrogate viruses considered.	The persistence of enveloped viruses in wastewater indicated concerns for their inactivation in wastewater treatment facilities.	Ye et al. (2016)
	Water (reagent grade), lake water, and pasteurized settled sewage	Chapel Hill, NC, USA	TGEV and MHV	TGEV and MHV persisted for 22 (T90%) and 17 days, respectively, at 25 °C in water (reagent grade). However, TGEV and MHV persisted for 9 (T99%) and 7 days, respectively, at 25 °C in pasteurized settled sewage. The infectivity decreases by <1 log10 for both viruses after 4 weeks at 4 °C.	The coronaviruses (based on surrogates TGEV and MHV) could remain infectious for long period in water and sewage matrices at low and ambient temperatures of 4 and 25 °C, respectively.	Casanova et al. (2009)
	Hospital wastewater, dechlorinated tap water, domestic sewage	Beijing City, China	SARS-CoV	SARS-CoV persisted for 2 days at 20 °C and 14 days at 4 °C in hospital wastewater, dechlorinated tap water, and domestic sewage. However, the persistence was extended for 14 days in wastewater at 4 °C.	Conventional disinfectant like chorine is highly effective to inactive SARS-CoV	Wang et al. (2005)
	Tap water, primary and activated sludge (secondary) effluents	Tucson, AZ, USA.	SARS-CoV	10–12 days at 23 °C in dechlorinated tap water and >100 days at 4 °C. 2–3 days 23 °C in primary sewage. 3 days 23 °C in secondary sewage.	The persistence of SARS-CoV is longer in primary wastewater than secondary wastewater due to the presence of organic material and suspended solids.	Gundy et al. (2009)
	Untreated wastewater, autoclaved wastewater, and dechlorinated tap water	Brisbane, Australia	SARS-CoV-2 and MHV	SARS-CoV-2 RNA: 8–28 days in untreated wastewater, 6–43 days in autoclaved wastewater, and 9–59 days in dechlorinated tap water, all at 4–37 °C. MHV RNA: 7–57 days in untreated wastewater, 6–43 days in autoclaved wastewater, and 11–44 days in tap water, all at 4–37 °C.	The difference in persistence of both SARS-CoV-2 RNA and MHV RNA is not statistically significant. The persistence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in untreated wastewater was less sensitive to high temperature compared to other sample matrices at other temperature values.	Ahmed et al. (2020b)
	Tap water and untreated primary influent	Northern Indiana, USA	SARS-CoV-2	2 days in tap water and 2 days for wastewater, both at room temperature of 20 °C. SARS-CoV-2 infectivity significantly decreased to 15 and 2 min at 50 °C and 70 °C, respectively. The higher starting titer of 105 TCID50 mL−1 showed longer persistence of the entire sampling time course (7 days).	The genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 was found to be more persistent than the infectious virus.	Bivins et al. (2020)
	Wastewater influent	Helsinki, Finland	SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and Norovirus GII	Both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 RNAs persisted for 84 days at temperatures of 4 to −75 °C. Norovirus GII RNA indicated a 1-log10 reduction in persistence by between 29 and 84 days during storage.	The persistence of non-envelop viruses like norovirus is not better than enveloping viruses like SAR-CoV-2 in cold environmental conditions as against the existing belief.	Hokajärvi et al. (2021)
	Wastewater	Paris, France	SARS-CoV-2 RNA, – Coxsackievirus B5	Both SARS-CoV-2 RNA and protected viral RNA persisted for up to 7 and 12 days, respectively at 4 °C but showed less stability at 20 °C. Coxsackievirus B5 RNA maintained its infectivity at 10 min up to 42 °C.	Both SARS-CoV-2 RNA, – Coxsackievirus B5 RNA have closely similar persistence levels to temperature changes. The infectivity of both viruses was preserved up to 24 h in wastewater samples.	Wurtzer et al. (2021)
	River water and wastewater	Minas Gerais State, Brazil	SARS-CoV-2	SARS-CoV-2 persisted for 7.7 and 5.5 days in rain water and wastewater, respectively at 4 °C. However, the viable virus persisted more (4–4.5 times) at 24 °C in both samples.	The temperature had a strong correlation with the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in river water and wastewater	de Oliveira et al. (2021)
Food/food package/food handlings	Plastic carrier (simulating contaminated food packages) and wipes	Czech Republic	Alphacoronavirus 1	The virus persisted to a detectable limit for up to 5 days at 4 °C. Wet wipes significantly inactivated the virus from the surface of the plastic package, with no detectable of the virus after 96 h when using disinfectant wipes.	The persistence and possible transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through plastic packaging for food can be sufficiently mitigated using wet-wiping, especially with disinfectant wet wipes.	Malenovská (2020)
	Salmon		SARS-CoV-2	SARS-CoV-2 maintained viability when attached with the salmon for 8 days at 4 °C and 2 days at 25 °C.	Infectivity is associated with temperature in the salmon.	Dai et al. (2021)
	Romaine lettuce		Bovine coronavirus (strain 88)	Infectious Bovine coronavirus persisted for up to 25 days on romaine lettuce surface under refrigerated condition.	Coronavirus maintaining its viability on the lettuce surface demonstrates the possibility of zoonotic transmission to humans.	Mullis et al. (2012)
	Dromedary camel milk, goat milk, and cow milk	Saudi Arabia	MERS-CoV	7 h under 4 °C refrigerated conditions. No infectious virus present in the Dromedary milk samples within 48 min at 22 °C storage.	Heat treatment (pasteurization) decreased the infectivity of the MERS-CoV in milk samples below the detectable limit.	van Doremalen et al. (2014)
	Lettuce, and strawberries		SARS-CoV (Strain 229E)	At 4 °C, SARS-CoV persisted for 2 days on lettuce, while the virus did not survive on strawberries. SARS-CoV persisted less on the produce at −20 °C.	Respiratory virus-like SARS-CoV could persist for a while on fresh fruits under refrigeration conditions (temperature) commonly used to store them in the household.	Yépiz-Gómez et al. (2013)
Environmental compartments	Aerosols	New Orleans, Fort Detrick, and Pittsburgh, in the USA.	SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV	At prevailing environmental conditions of 23 °C and 53% RH, the SARS-CoV-2 maintained its infectivity up to 16 h, more than SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV.	SARS-CoV-2 could persist very long in aerosol and indicates the possibility of serving as an airborne pathogen.	Fears et al. (2020)
	Aerosols, plastic, stainless steel, copper, cardboard	NA	Infectious SARS-CoV-2, and SARS-CoV	At 21–23 °C and 40% RH, both viable SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV persisted for 72 h on plastic, and stainless steel with a significant reduction on stainless steel after 48 h and plastic after 72 h. Viable SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV persisted for only 4 and 8 h, respectively, on copper, while they persisted for 24 and 8, respectively, on cardboard. Viable SARS-CoV-2 persisted for 2.64 h in aerosol (the experimental duration was 3 h) while SARS-CoV persisted for up to 2.43 h	Both viable SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV demonstrated similar persistence on surfaces and aerosols under the same environmental conditions.	van Doremalen et al. (2020)
	Glass, wood, mask (inner and outer surface), stainless steel, paper, tissue paper, banknote paper	NA	SARS-CoV-2	At environmental conditions of 22 °C, pH of 3–10, and 65% RH, SARS-CoV-2 was viable up to 2 days on glass, 1 day on wood, 7 days on mask (outside surface), 4 days on mask (inner surface), 4 days on stainless steel, 30 min on paper and tissue paper, and 2 days on banknote paper.	SARS-CoV-2 is highly stable under favorable environmental conditions but very susceptible to disinfectants.	Chin et al. (2020)
	Polytetrafluoroethylene, polyvinyl chloride, Ceramic tiles, glass, silicone rubber, and stainless steel.	United Kingdom	SARS-CoV (Strain 229E)	The virus persisted for 5 days in all the materials at 21 °C.	While SARS-CoV was able to remain viable on different surfaces, the virus was inactivated quickly on copper alloy materials.	Warnes et al. (2015)
	Paper, disposable gown (impervious), and cotton gown.		SARS-CoV (Strain GVU6109)	At 20 °C, SARS-CoV persisted for less than 2 h on the disposable gown, and less than 1 day on the cotton gown, and paper,	There is an unlikely transmission of the virus via droplets on paper and cotton materials, especially when it is dried. Detergents can serve as a decontaminant agent of SARS-CoV.	Lai et al. (2005)
	Wood boards, paper (press and filter), cloth, plastic, metal, and mosaic.	Beijing, China	SARS-CoV (Strain CoV–P9)	At 21–25 °C, SARS-CoV persisted for 4 days on wood board, 4 on press paper, 5 days on filter paper and cloth, 4 days on plastic, 4 days on glass, and 3 days on the mosaic.	The persistence of SARS-CoV in the environment is strong but highly susceptible to heating and Ultraviolet irradiation.	Duan et al. (2003)
	Steel, plastic, and aerosol		MERS-CoV	For steel and plastic, MERS-CoV persisted for 48 h at 20 °C and 40% RH, 24 h at 30 °C and 30% RH, and 8 h at 30 °C and 80% RH. For aerosol, MERS-CoV maintained its viability at 20 °C and 40% RH.	The prolonged presence of MERS-CoV under conducive environmental conditions could aid its transmission in such an environment.	van Doremalen et al. (2013)