Abstract
Recently, aqueous ozone was reported to have a potential to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 causing the global coronavirus disease 2019. Ozone is among the most powerful oxidants and a strong antimicrobial agent; however, it can be easily consumed by oxidizable organic stuff and reductants present in its surroundings. It is therefore essential to evaluate the efficacy of aqueous ozone in various environmental situations. Herein, we focused on the potential of aqueous ozone to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 under the situation in which almost all of oxidizable materials were removed. We found that (i) SARS-CoV-2 exposed by 0.1 mg/l of aqueous ozone for 30 sec was significantly inactivated by 99.9% when the viral protein concentration was 3.3 μg/ml and (ii) exposure by 0.5 mg/l aqueous ozone for 3 min significantly inactivated SARS-CoV-2 by 90% in 33 μg/ml protein concentration. Further study will be needed to evaluate the effect of aqueous ozone on SARS-CoV-2 in various environmental setting.
