Eurofins Publishes Method for Early Detection of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Virus Spreaders, That Does Not Require Human PCR Clinical Testing

LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

Eurofins (Paris:ERF):

Although employees showing COVID-19 symptoms are currently discouraged from going to work, significant workplace COVID-19 outbreaks continue to occur. Virus spread by asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals has been reported to be a significant cause of contamination clusters. Yet, other than PCR testing every employee each day using an invasive nasal or nasopharyngeal swab, few options exist to detect asymptomatic virus spreaders who can contaminate other employees or visitors.

Following an extensive study (1) involving over 6,300 PCR tests at nine office and industrial locations in Europe and North America, Eurofins demonstrated that its Eurofins COVID-19 Sentinel^TM RT-PCR environmental surfaces tests can contribute to detecting asymptomatic virus spreaders.

Eurofins is launching Eurofins COVID-19 Sentinel^TM worldwide today as part of its SAFER@WORK™ programme. Through a comprehensive range of testing solutions, including waste water testing, work environment surface testing and worn mask testing, Eurofins COVID-19 Sentinel™ provides an early warning of the presence of SARS-CoV-2 at a given site (e.g. a city, factories, education, 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.

This is why Eurofins developed the Eurofins COVID-19 Sentinel^TM programme, which is affordable, easily organised and non-invasive. It allows governments and companies to early detect the presence of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic virus carriers, at times before anyone is aware of the issue, and to assess effectiveness of workplace COVID-19 management plans.

(1) Sentinel Coronavirus Environmental Monitoring Can Contribute to Detecting Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Virus Spreaders and Can Verify Effectiveness of Workplace COVID-19 Controls https://medrxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.06.24.20131185v1

The full release can be found at: https://www.eurofins.com/media-centre/press-releases/2020-07-01_2/

For further information, please visit www.eurofins.com

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