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Transmission mechanisms for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) are incompletely understood. In particular, aerosol transmission remains unclear, with viral detection in air and demonstration of its infection potential being actively investigated. To this end, we employed a novel electrostatic collector to sample air from rooms occupied by COVID‐19 patients in a major Swedish hospital. Electrostatic air sampling in conjunction with extraction‐free, reverse‐transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (hid‐RT‐PCR) enabled detection of SARS‐CoV‐2 in air from patient rooms (9/22; 41%) and adjoining anterooms (10/22; 45%). Detection with hid‐RT‐PCR was concomitant with viral RNA presence on the surface of exhaust ventilation channels in patients and anterooms more than 2 m from the COVID‐19 patient. Importantly, it was possible to detect active SARS‐CoV‐2 particles from room air, with a total of 496 plaque‐forming units (PFUs) being isolated, establishing the presence of infectious, airborne SARS‐CoV‐2 in rooms occupied by COVID‐19 patients. Our results support circulation of SARS‐CoV‐2 via aerosols and urge the revision of existing infection control frameworks to include airborne transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The revised last sentence now reads "They have also been countered by reports of negative detection of the virus in air. We would like to rephrase the last sentence of the first paragraph in the Introduction section by removing the phrase "...and systematic reviews rejecting airborne transmission of the virus SP 19, 20 sp " and references (19 and 20). Detection and isolation of airborne SARS-CoV-2 in a hospital setting. [Extracted from the article]