It’s a device that could revolutionise the day-to-day management of the pandemic offering protection to frontline workers and the community, while reducing the risk of asymptomatic presentations of Coronavirus. How? Cutting edge detectors that measure the presents of SARS-CoV-2 variants on people’s breath.
RMIT University’s prototype is set for mass-production with a planned release as early as next year with their new collaborators, Soterius, biomedical firm based in Victoria. Tests have proven this non-evasive tool to identify potential risk with high confidence, reliability and accuracy. This technology delivers a result within a minute alerting the need for a medical COVID test and activation of self isolation protocols.
The technology will be manufactured in Australia and will initially be delivered to hospitals, with future applications in other essential worker and high-traffic settings including aged care, quarantine hotels, airports and schools.
Soterius co-founder Dr Alasdair Wood said emerging environmental viral sensors were bulky, energy intensive and can detect only one type of virus.
“Our biosensor is so small it can fit on a personal fob card and it’s easy to use – you just need to swipe your card over a reader at checkpoints,” Wood said. “Importantly, one sensor can detect up to 8 viral strains and our technology can be easily adapted to detect new variants or novel viruses as they emerge. We hope the Soterius Scout biosensor could be a vital tool for managing COVID-19, providing accurate early detection to prevent outbreaks and avoid the need for future lockdowns.”
The sensor harnesses nanotechnology-enabled biosensors developed by RMIT researchers at its leading-edge Micro Nano Research Facility, detects protein fragments of SARS-CoV-2 with no false positives which is scalable to detect other diseases such as influenza and MERS.
A newly released antibacterial surface disinfectant developed by an Australian biotechnology company has been listed by TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) and proven by 400 scientific studies to not only kill COVID-19, Influenza A and Influenza B but leave a protective antimicrobial layer on surfaces for up to 30 days.
Touch Australia has revolutionised the market of disinfectants as the first regulated and rigorously tested product to provide up to 30 days of residual protection on surfaces against COVID-19, Influenza A and Influenza B. Offering reliable and long-term protection against germs, Surface Guard has proven more effective than all other disinfectants on the market.
Comparably, most current disinfectants don’t have long-lasting protection of Surface Guard, lasting only 24 hours to 7 days. Whilst certain products have proven long-term protection against COVID-19, their efficacy does not carry across a broad spectrum of viruses and pathogens and nor do they carry the scientific testing to substantiate their claims. This is especially the case when using alcohol-based disinfectants, which cannot provide the same long-term effectiveness against pathogens as microbes can adapt and develop resistance against these solutions.