Environmental contamination and evaluation of healthcare-associated SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk in temporary isolation wards during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Temporary isolation wards have been introduced to meet demands for airborne-infection-isolation-rooms (AIIRs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Environmental sampling and outbreak investigation was conducted in temporary isolation wards converted from general wards and/or prefabricated containers, in order to evaluate the ability of such temporary isolation wards to safely manage COVID-19 cases over a period of sustained use.

Methods

Environmental sampling for SARS-CoV-2 RNA was conducted in temporary isolation ward rooms constructed from pre-fabricated containers (N = 20) or converted from normal-pressure general wards (N = 47). Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was utilized to ascertain health care-associated transmission when clusters were reported amongst HCWs working

SUBMITTER: Wee LE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9613445 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature