A team of scientists and doctors has developed a capability to detect airborne SARS-CoV-2 RNA — the nucleic acid coding for the virus that causes COVID-19 — indoors through air sampling. When trialed in two inpatient wards of a major Singaporean hospital caring for active COVID-19 patients the air surveillance approach produced a higher detection rate of environmental SARS-CoV-2 RNA (72%) compared to surface swab samples (9.6 percent) collected in the same area.
When trialled in two inpatient wards of a major Singaporean hospital caring for active COVID-19 patients the air surveillance approach produced a higher detection rate of environmental SARS-CoV-2 RNA compared to surface swab samples collected in the same area.
The COVID-19 Delta variant’s rapid spread in Singapore and globally underlines the need for rapid identification of the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the environment. While wastewater testing is a reliable indicator of the presence of virus in sewage discharge, the retrospective nature of this approach means pre-emptive action is not possible.
The findings, described in a study published in Indoor Air on 14 Sept, indicate the potential for an airborne surveillance system that monitors for the presence of the virus and provides early warning of infection risks, which would be especially valuable in hospitals and nursing homes, and in enclosed places where large numbers of people congregate, said the research team.
Professor Paul Tambyah, deputy director of NUS Medicine’s Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme and President of Asia Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection, said «The results of this air sampling study are encouraging, with the potential for the simple monitoring for the presence of COVID-19 in possible hotspots. This will allow for timely intervention where necessary to prevent the emergence of clusters. Hopefully this will prove useful as the country gradually transitions into recognising that the disease has become endemic and everyone learns to live as normally as possible with the virus.»
Dr Irvan Luhung, SCELSE senior research fellow and study co-lead author, said «This study demonstrated the versatility and sensitivity of air sampling for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in hospital settings, something that was previously not thought possible due to the high ventilation rate of hospital wards. Such an air surveillance capability could make a valuable contribution towards keeping frontline medical staff safe in this pandemic. In hospitals with a high daily number of COVID-19 patients, employing a routine air surveillance programme with high sensitivity could be beneficial in detecting the virus early and help to keep frontline medical staff safe.»
Associate Professor David Allen from NUS Medicine’s Infectious Diseases Translational Research Programme and an infectious diseases clinician at the National University Health System (NUHS), said «The paper’s findings expand our knowledge of the extent to which the virus may potentially be transmitted in different types of wards — this impacts safety and needed precautions for health care workers. The findings also advance the potential use of different methods of detecting virus in the environment to provide additional tools for mass screening (other methods are screening each person, sampling sewage, etc) — in our case a device which samples the air for the presence of virus.»
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Materials provided by Nanyang Technological University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.