Under what conditions can the virus be killed in vitro?

Many people wonder how to kill 2019-nCoV that is not living inside the host but in the external environment. Some useful methods have been found by medical experts and scientists after some strenuous work.

2019-nCoV is not only afraid of the heat but also of disinfectants!

According to the Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol for COVID-19 (Trial Edition 3) issued by the National Health Commission on January 22, 2020 and other versions of the Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol issued previously[1]:

The current understanding on the physicochemical properties of 2019-nCoV has been mostly gained from the previous studies on SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, that is,

  • The virus is sensitive to heat. The virus can be effectively killed by heat treatment at 56℃ for 30min and by such lipid-soluble agents as ethyl ether, 75% alcohol, chlorine-containing disinfectants, peroxyacetic acid and chloroform;
  • Chlorhexidine cannot effectively kill the virus.

Is UV light another powerful killer of the virus?

The Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol for COVID-19 (Trial Edition 4) issued by the National Health Commission of PRC on January 27, 2020 contains the following contents as compared with the previous versions[2]:

  • The virus is sensitive to UV light.

In other words, UV light, heat (56℃, 30 min), and such lipid-soluble agents as ethyl ether, 75% alcohol, chlorine-containing disinfectants, peroxyacetic acid, and chloroform can effectively kill the virus.

So the next question is how long the virus can survive outside the host?

There has been no definite time duration of how long the virus can survive in vitro. This is because the survival time of the virus in vitro is related to the features of the virus itself, the type of surface the virus inhabits, and the ambient environment (especially temperature and humidity).

So far we can be sure that:

1. UV light, heat (56℃, 30 min), and such lipid-soluble agents as ethyl ether, 75% alcohol, chlorine-containing disinfectants, peroxyacetic acid, and chloroform can effectively kill the virus.

2. According to the studies on SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, these two viruses are deactivated most rapidly at specific temperature and humidity. However, it still remains unclear at which temperature and humidity 2019-nCoV can be most rapidly deactivated.

Last Updated On 2021-09-17