New low-cost sensor to detect COVID-19 in wastewater

The researchers found that the sensor was able to detect the genetic material at concentrations as low as 10 picograms per microlitre

U.K. and Indian scientists have jointly developed a low-cost sensor that can detect fragments of the virus responsible for COVID-19 within wastewater, paving the way for health officials to get a better understanding of how prevalent the disease is in a larger area. The technique, developed by researchers from the University of Strathclyde and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, could be used to enable widespread monitoring of COVID-19 prevalence in low- and middle-income countries which struggle to conduct mass human testing. The sensor can be used with portable equipment that uses the standard Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test to detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus, without the need for the expensive chemicals and lab infrastructure needed for real-time quantitative PCR tests, published recently in the journal, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical.