A group of Singapore Researchers from Nanyang University of Technology and National University of Country has created a device capable of detecting SARS-COV-2 virus particles in the air. The relevant article is published in the Indoor Air magazine.
Air sampling followed by detection of molecules encoding nucleic acid in the composition of viral RNA was carried out in two stationary branches of a large Singapore hospital with patients with patients with COVID-19. He showed high SARS-COV-2 in the environment (72%). At the same time, with traditional ways to remove smears from surfaces in the same rooms, only 9.6% of viral particles was detected.
“The extracted RNA is subjected to reverse transcription in real time by the polymerase chain reaction by the method of polymerase chain reaction, which is comparable to the standard test of samples from the nasopharynx to check the presence of SARS-COV-2. True, such results managed to achieve only when using air sverseastics at speeds Sampling up to 150 l / min. When a speed reduction of up to 50 l / min of successful detection in the air SARS-COV-2 was not registered, “the release says.
Scientists assume that such devices can be applied as additional tools for mass anti-virus screening.