Rhesus macaques can be effectively infected with SARS-CoV-2 via ocular conjunctival route

The outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is highly infectious and transmitted mainly through human-to-human transmission via respiratory droplets and direct or close contact to the patients with SARS-CoV-2. The other potential transmission routes remain to be further researched. In some clinical cases, samples of tears and conjunctival secretions from both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 patients with conjunctivitis displayed detectable viral RNA. A previous study reported the case of a clinician who was infected with SARS-CoV-2 while working with patients under all safeguards except eye protection. By contrast, no SARS-CoV-2 could be detected by RT-PCR in 114 conjunctival swabs samples from patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Anatomically, the linkage of the ocular with respiratory tissues is primarily by the nasolacrimal system. The potential extra-respiratory transmissible routes of SARS-CoV-2 via ocular remained unclear. Whether ocular conjunctiva is one of the portals that SARS-CoV-2 enters the host needs to be further research by laboratory-confirmation for providing significant data to oversight and prevention in people.