Scientists from the UK and India have come together to develop a cost-effective sensor that is capable of detecting fragments of the COVID-19 virus within the wastewater. This could greatly help health workers to understand how persistent the virus in larger areas.
The new method developed by researchers from the University of Strathclyde and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, can come in handy to monitor the COVID-19 virus’ widespread in low and middle-income countries which are unable to conduct mass testing of their citizens.
A cheaper method to detect COVID-19 virus
The sensor can be used with portable equipment that uses Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test to identify the coronavirus, without having to use costly chemicals and lab infrastructure, according to the research. The research was published in Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical journal.
The sensor was put through wastewater that was collected from a sewage treatment plant in Mumbai spike with SARS-Cov-2 Ribonucleic Acid (RNA).
“Many low- to middle-income countries face a challenge in tracking COVID-19 in people because of limited access to the necessary facilities for mass testing. Looking for traces of the virus within wastewater would enable public health officials to get a better understanding of how prevalent the disease is in a larger area,” said Andy Ward, Chancellor’s Fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Sensor capable of detecting virus accurately
Testing wastewater to detect SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid is already a known method to check areas where the number of cases can increase and allow for more targeted action to be taken to restrict the spread of the virus, Dr. Ward noted.
“However, the current gold-standard method of real-time PCR testing (qPCR) requires expensive laboratory equipment and skilled scientists to complete. Furthermore, if resources are limited, testing of human samples would most likely take precedence over wastewater epidemiology surveillance. Therefore, lower cost, alternative approaches are required in order to support wastewater surveillance,” he said.
The researchers learned that the sensor can detect the genetic material at concentrations as low as 10 picograms per microlitre. It remains to be seen where the new tech will be used.
