Disinfection

Disinfection practices are important to reduce the potential for COVID-19 virus contamination in non-healthcare settings, such as in the home, office, schools, gyms, publicly accessible buildings, faith-based community centers, markets, transportation, and business settings or restaurants. High-touch surfaces in these non-healthcare settings should be identified for priority disinfection such as door and window handles, kitchen and food preparation areas, countertops, bathroom surfaces, toilets and taps, touchscreen personal devices, personal computer keyboards, and work surfaces.

In outdoor spaces, large-scale spraying or fumigation in areas such as streets or open marketplaces for the COVID-19 virus or other pathogens is not recommended. Streets and sidewalks are not considered routes of infection for COVID-19. Spraying disinfectants, even outdoors, can be noxious for people’s health and cause eye, respiratory, or skin irritation or damage.

This practice will be ineffective since the presence of dirt or rubbish for example, inactivates the disinfectant, and manual cleaning to physically remove all matter is not feasible. This is even less effective on porous surfaces such as sidewalks and unpaved walkways. Even in the absence of dirt or rubbish, it is unlikely that chemical spraying would adequately cover surfaces allowing the required contact time to inactivate pathogens.