The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, may survive on meat and fish products in the refrigerator or the freezer for up to 30 days, a study suggests.The research, recently published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, was conducted using chicken, beef, pork, and salmon, and surrogate viruses with spikes similar to those on SARS-CoV-2.
The researchers stored the meat and fish products at both refrigeration (4 degrees Celsius) and freezer temperatures (minus 20 degrees C).
"Although you might not store meat in the fridge for 30 days, you might store it in the freezer for that long," said study first author Emily S. Bailey, an assistant professor at Campbell University in the US.
"We even found that the viruses could be cultured after (being frozen for) that length of time,” Bailey said in a statement.
The researchers undertook the study after learning that COVID-19 outbreaks were occurring in Southeast Asia prior community transmission.