DETECTION OF SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME CORONAVIRUS 2 (SARS-COV-2) ON SELECTED SURFACES IN HARAR CITY, EASTERN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2, which causes Corona Virus Disease 2019, is responsible for the ongoing pandemic. The virus can be transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces. There is no report about hospital and public environmental surface contamination of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Ethiopia. Objective: To determine the magnitude of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 on selected environmental surfaces and Corona Virus Disease 2019 prevention and control practices by the community of Harar city, eastern Ethiopia from April 15 to May 15/2021. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 384 identified potential Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 contact surfaces from the community and hospital. Observational checklists were used to assess the practice of Corona Virus Disease 2019 prevention and control by the community. Samples of the selected environmental surface were swabbed using a sterile Dacron. The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 nucleic acid was extracted using DaAn kit (DaAn Gene, China). Amplification and detection were done using BGI kits on the Quant Studio 7 Flex Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction System. Data were entered into EpiData version 4.6 and analyzed using the STATA software version 14. The surface contamination level was compared and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Result: The overall magnitude of the virus detected from the swabbed surface was 12% (95% CI, 8.7.15.2%). Most of the virus was detected from surfaces in Surgical Ward (83.3%) of the hospital and pool house surface and material (33.3%) in the community. There were significant differences in the level of contamination between different hospital sites (p < 0.05). The majority of the observed site did not practice the Corona Virus Disease 2019 control and prevention Conclusion: This study detected a high magnitude of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 from hospital and pool house surfaces. The door handle of the hospital and the white ball surfaces of the pool house were highly contaminated with the virus. Most of the observed sites did not practice infection prevention strategies. Therefore, awareness creation on prevention and control of the virus with additional mandatory law enforcement activities should be implemented to tackle the transmission within the community and hospital