Inactivation of aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 by 254 nm UV-C irradiation

Surface residing SARS-CoV-2 is efficiently inactivated by UV-C irradiation. This raises the question whether UV-C-based technologies are also suitable to decontaminate SARS-CoV-2- containing aerosols and which doses are needed to achieve inactivation. Here, we designed a test bench to generate aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 and exposed the aerosols to a defined UV-C dose. Our results demonstrate that the exposure of aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 with a low average dose in the order of 0.42-0.51 mJ/cm(2) UV-C at 254 nm resulted in more than 99.9% reduction in viral titers. Altogether, UV-C-based decontamination of aerosols seems highly effective to achieve a significant reduction in SARS-CoV-2 infectivity.

Automated summary

Exposing aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 to a low dose of UV-C irradiation (0.42-0.51 mJ/cm(2) at 254 nm) resulted in more than 99.9% reduction in viral titers, demonstrating the high effectiveness of UV-C-based decontamination of aerosols in reducing SARS-CoV-2 infectivity.