Disinfectant Effectiveness Against SARS-CoV-2 and Surrogates Using Cell Culture and RT-PCR

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes the global COVID-19 pandemic. Limited studies have been performed on various types of disinfectants utilized to control the spread of this highly contagious virus. This study aimed to investigate the inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 surrogate virus, hCoV-229E using an in vitro to test the anti-infectivity activity of the humidifier buffers (A and B, LumichemTM). A real-time reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assay was used to evaluate the effectiveness of these disinfectants on the degradation of viral RNA in a time dependent manner. The effects of disinfectants on viral infectivity were determined using a tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50) assay of a surrogate virus, hCoV-229E, in MRC-5 cell culture. The results demonstrated that the LumichemTM buffers A and B had a 2 to 3-log10 reduction inactivation using cell culture after a short exposure compared to the control, indicating the disinfection efficacy of the tested anti-infectivity compounds. The LumichemTM buffers A and B in addition did not affect the viral genomic RNA of a surrogate virus, hCoV-229E, thus representing an additional benefit with a negligible impact to operators and those in close contact when providing in-situ operational cleaning.