MICA: Community Based Point-of-Need Integrated Diagnostics for SARS-CoV-2

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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), a disease which first disease emerged in China in December 2019. The virus has now spread across the world, with all but a very few countries now having cases. Although the disease is fatal in a small number of individuals, the majority of Covid-19 cases either are asymptomatic or result in only mild disease. Internationally there have been a variety of different strategies to reduce the burden of the disease including vaccine development, the search for new medicines and finally the identification (or diagnosis) and isolation of those infected (to prevent the disease spreading throughout communities). Over the last 9 months there has been a huge effort in developing diagnostic sensors, using a range of strategies including those for laboratory-based testing and those can be used within communities. Within these sensors developed, there are sensors that can tell if you have previously been infected (based upon determining antibodies in the blood) and those that tell whether you are currently infected (by measuring the viruses' genetic material from a throat swab). This proposal is concerned with detecting those people who are currently infected in a format that can be readily used by GPs in primary care, care homes and schools.One significant challenge is that many of the those infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus have symptoms that are similar either to those with a cold (commonly caused by the Respiratory Syncytial Virus in children and adults) and flu (caused by the influenza virus). We have therefore chosen to make a low-cost, disposable sensor, that can not only be used in the community without the need for a centralised testing laboratory, but which also tells the GP if the individual being tested has COVID-19, flu or a cold. The proposal aims to simplify the method of sample testing that it can be caried out simply, giving a test result that is easily read by eye, in a manner similar to a pregnancy test (as a band, on a strip of paper).