Presence and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in aquatic environments: A mini-review

The introduction of SARS-CoV-2 into water bodies via sewage raises public health concerns. For the assessment of public health risks, it is necessary to know the presence and persistence of infectious SARS-CoV-2 in water and wastewater. The present mini-review documents the occurrence and decay rates of viable infectious SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-2 RNA in different water matrices including wastewater, river water, groundwater, tap water, and seawater. Persistence of viable SARS-CoV-2 is mainly temperature dependent. A rapid inactivation of infectious SARS-CoV-2 is found in river water, sea water, and wastewater compared to tap water. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was found to be considerably more stable than infectious SARS-CoV-2, indicating that the environmental detection of RNA alone does not prove risk of infection. Persistence assays need to consider physicochemical and biological water composition as well as the effect of detergents, enzymes, and filtering particulate matter.