SARS-CoV-2 viability and viral RNA persistence on microbiological agar plates

COVID-19 is an airborne disease due to SARS-CoV-2 that could be transmitted by infectious droplets that are inhaled, that land directly on mucous membranes, or that are inoculated via contaminated hands. Transmission through surfaces or fomites contaminated by deposition of larger particles could potentially occur but seems less common. SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA has been recovered from various surfaces [1–3]. Infectious samples are handled in microbiological laboratories, and agar plates could potentially be contaminated with viable virus when inoculated with virus-containing clinical samples.