Abstract:
The threat to health and social life resulting due to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 is the leading cause of pandemic affecting millions of the population worldwide and has influenced people to maintain hygiene conditions all around. The use of toilets and bathrooms has become a controversial topic. Fecal-based transmission in COVID-19 begets from hidden colloidal bioaerosols produced after flushing the toilet, which generates turbulence expelling aerosol into the surrounding area which lands on various surfaces. The virus is found to remain suspended in the air, which can affect the person around it and also settles on various colloid surfaces, which facilitates the transmission cycle from feces to the surface to body parts and eventually to the oral and nasal cavity. Moreover, untreated wastewater is turning out to be a major key point for the spread of the virus. This review investigates risks associated with the use of the toilet by an infected person. The vulnerability of common use of the toilet in various domains at public places, hospitals, airplanes, and even at homes, along with transmission via bioaerosolization has also been focused on in this chapter. It also analyzes all the possibilities of protection and also application of design solutions such as a smart sensor to maintain hygienic and sanitized conditions. Some inexpensive interventions are also introduced to prevent transmission in personal settings. These have been brought forth to pave new horizons for impeding the transmission of COVID-19