Luxembourg-based Eurofins has launched its covid-19 Sentinel program of environmental tests—which detect the presence of the virus on surfaces as well as in wastewater—to detect asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals early and prevent them from spreading the virus that causes covid-19.
Currently, other than PCR testing every employee each day using an invasive nasal or nasopharyngeal swab, few options exist to detect asymptomatic virus spreaders. However, following an extensive study involving more than 6,300 PCR tests at nine office and industrial locations in Europe and North America, Eurofins says it has demonstrated that its Eurofins covid-19 Sentinel RT-PCR environmental surfaces tests can contribute to detecting asymptomatic virus spreaders.
The company has recently launched Eurofins covid-19 Sentinel worldwide as part of its Safer@Work program. Through a comprehensive range of testing solutions, including waste water testing, work environment surface testing, and worn mask testing, Eurofins covid-19 Sentinel is designed to provide an early warning of the presence of SARS-CoV-2 at a given site (such as a city, factories, schools, government and public service sites, nursing homes) before the virus spreads too broadly. If positive results are found, employees present in the rooms tested can be isolated and advised to get tested by clinical RT-PCR.
In response to the covid-19 pandemic, governments and employers have deployed a set of measures to control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in workplaces including regular employee testing. Due to barriers to personal testing—such as inconvenience, expense, and invasiveness—businesses, education, public, and government bodies are looking for non-invasive cost-effective ways for early outbreak detection.
For more information, visit Eurofins.
