Qiagen and GT Molecular have started to offer a wastewater workflow solution designed to enable surveillance of COVID-19 outbreaks.
The solution is available to labs in the U.S. and Canada, while labs in other countries will be able to purchase it in the future.
The workflow leverages Qiagen’s QIAcuity digital PCR system, which hosts GT Molecular’s digital SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance Assay. The assay was developed to comply with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the United States National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS).
The complete workflow became available in the beginning of August, when the assay launched.
The solution allows for the quantification of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater in less than two and a half hours, compared to up to 6 hours with other dPCR systems. The solution integrates Qiagen’s AllPrep PowerViral DNA/RNA Kit with multiplex dPCR detection on the QIAcuity Digital PCR System.
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) of SARS-CoV-2 allows public authorities to collect data from broad sweeps of the population, including those not featured in public-health statistics because they lack access to healthcare or do not seek testing. Wastewater surveillance has the potential to reveal viral infection and mutational dynamics earlier than diagnostic testing.
