Intelligent water sensing for early warning of COVID-19 outbreaks

监测废水可以成为加拿大对抗第二波新冠肺炎的重要工具。测试 在污水处理之前，存在导致新冠肺炎的SARS-CoV-2病毒的污水 处理厂将提供有关疾病在社区中存在和集中的信息， 即使社区成员没有症状。在这个项目中，弗莱明学院的促进中心 水和废水技术公司建议与QuantWave技术公司合作 已经开发出一种新型的便携式微波-微流控传感系统，可以快速检测病原体 液体基质中的微生物，无需长时间孵育。建议的目的是 项目是评估用于检测冠状病毒的快速检测系统，这一用途尚未得到 探索过了，但它显示出了希望。这个项目将调查这项技术的执行能力 液体指纹分析和鉴定废水中SARS-CoV-2冠状病毒的存在。这个 最终目标是在全国各地的污水处理厂实施这项技术 提供实时、持续的废水监控。这种类型的监测可以作为一种无创性的早期 警告工具，用于提醒社区注意新的新冠肺炎感染，以及提供有关 疫情发生时或消散时的程度。安装智能传感器以监控病毒级别和 追踪废水中的病毒痕迹将使公共卫生当局能够在早期更快地做出反应 在大流行的各个阶段，或在后期阶段发出信号，何时开始放松限制。

Monitoring wastewater can be an important tool in Canada's fight against a second wave of COVID-19. Testing sewage for the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, before it is treated at a wastewater treatment plant would provide information about the presence and concentration of the disease in a community, even if community members are asymptomatic. For this project, Fleming College's Centre for Advancement of Water and Wastewater Technologies proposes to collaborate with QuantWave Technologies Inc. QuantWave has developed a novel, portable microwave-microfluidic sensing system that rapidly detects pathogenic organisms in liquid matrices without the need for lengthy incubation times. The purpose of the proposed project is to assess the rapid detection system for use in detecting coronaviruses, a usage that has yet to be explored, but for which it shows promise. This project will investigate the ability of the technology to perform liquid fingerprinting analysis and identify the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus in wastewater. The ultimate goal is having the technology implemented at wastewater treatment plants across the country to provide real-time ongoing wastewater monitoring. This type of monitoring can be used as a non-invasive early warning tool to alert communities to new COVID-19 infections, as well as provide information about the extent of outbreaks as they occur or as they dissipate. Installing intelligent sensors to monitor virus levels and track virus traces in wastewater will enable public health authorities to respond more quickly during the early stages of the pandemic or signal in the later stages when to proceed with relaxing restrictions.