Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 26 June (HL3499), where in the report Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and Mitigating Measures, published on 4 June, “the latest research on the amount of time that the COVID-19 virus remains potent on different kinds of surface” is addressed; and whether they will now answer the question put, namely, what assessment they have made of the latest scientific research on the amount of time that the COVID-19 virus remains potent on different kinds of surface; whether they will publish that assessment; and if so, when. [T]

The key conclusions on page one of the report Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and Mitigating Measures reported that the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is most strongly associated with close and prolonged contact, suggesting that close-range direct person-to-person transmission (droplets) and indirect contact transmission (via surfaces and objects) are the most important routes of transmission.

In the overview of modes of transmission from page two onwards, the report stated that transmission may also be influenced by environmental conditions. The virus is stable on surfaces and in air under laboratory conditions that simulate indoor environments. The virus survives better under colder, drier conditions with survival times of hours to days. Experiments under simulated sunlight suggests that high exposure to UV in outdoor environments will reduce the survival time to the order of minutes, however this will depend on the time of year and the cloud cover. The virus is not likely to survive for long periods of time on outdoor surfaces in sunlight, but it may survive for more than 24 hours in indoor environments.

No further assessment has been undertaken.