Corrigendum to "Persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and their inactivation with biocidal agents" [J Hosp Infect 104 (2020) 246-251].

A few details in our Review require clarification or amendment.

We described 0.5% hydrogen peroxide in various parts of the manuscript to be effective against human coronaviruses in 1 min based on the study by Omidbaksh et al. [34]. In this study however, the test product was described as hydrogen peroxide-based but in an accelerated form (ACCEL TB from Virox Technologies Inc.). The formulation contains “very low levels of food-grade anionic and nonionic surfactants” in addition to 0.5% hydrogen peroxide. These are expected to “act in synergy with hydrogen peroxide to produce the desired microbiocidal activity”. Based on the US patent 6,346,279 referenced by Omidbaksh et al. “the solution also contains from 0.1 to 5.0% of at least one acid compound, e.g. phosphoric and/or a phosphonate with from 1 to 5 phosphonic acid groups, and from 0.02 to 5% of at least one anionic surfactant”. The exact composition of the formulation remains unknown. The product safety data sheet provided by the manufacturer of the product, however, declares only one active ingredient which is 0.5% hydrogen peroxide. Neither the article by Omidbakhsh et al., nor the above-mentioned patent, describe any comparative data for 0.5% hydrogen peroxide with and without acceleration. We are not able to evaluate if the acceleration significantly contributes to the virucidal activity of 0.5% hydrogen peroxide although it is plausible. Thus the results on 0.5% hydrogen peroxide described in our review can only be attributed to 0.5% hydrogen peroxide in an accelerated form.

In addition, we want to clarify the description of the concentrations of alcohols more specifically. For ethanol it is always w/w except for 80% [v/v: reference 14] and 70% [unknown if v/v or w/w; reference 30]. For 2-propanol it is always w/w except 75% [v/v; reference 14] and 70% and 50% [unknown if v/v or w/w; references 28 and 30]. The mixture of 1-propanol and 2-propanol is w/w [references 28 and 29].

Finally, in the Discussion, the sentence “In an observational study, it was described that students touch their face with their own hands on average 23 times per h, with contact mostly to the skin (56%), followed by mouth (36%), nose (31%) and eyes (31%)” should have read “In an observational study, it was described that students touch their face with their own hands on average 23 times per h, with contact mostly to the skin (56%), followed by mouth (16%), nose (14%) and eyes (12%).”