AIRCOV: SARS-CoV-2

AIRCOV: SARS-CoV-2

What is the aim of this initiative?

The objective of the AIRCOV: SARS-CoV-2 presence and infectivity on indoor air samples project was to determine and characterize airborne SARS-CoV-2 in different outdoor and indoor environments in Oslo and to develop a viral viability protocol for discrimination between infectious and non-infectious SARS-CoV-2.

An alternative protocol to viral culture for assessing viral viability has been created and established as part of the routine molecular biology experiments performed by the Portuguese partners research group. 

Dissemination activities were performed in Portugal, namely two workshops and a lecture about airborne SARS-CoV-2 and the importance of assessment of viral viability within air samples.  Moreover, a social media presence was created, with publications regarding the project shared in both Instagram (@aircovid19) and Twitter (@aircovid19), as well as in a website that was created to compile news about the project and recent publications (https://aircovideea.weebly.com/).

Two manuscripts were also written from experiments applying this new viral viability protocol, one of which was already accepted to publication in the Journal of Medical Microbiology, with the title “SARS-CoV-2 in outdoor air following the 3rd wave lockdown release, Portugal, 2021” (DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.001659 – in press). 

Other planned activities to take place in the first semester of 2023 within the scope of the project are publication of the second manuscript with the results and finding from the air sampling campaign and viral viability assay that took place in Norway; more dissemination activities such as lectures and talks about the AIRCOVID project, as well as posts on social media and the website; and a final online workshop on Airborne SARS-CoV-2 open for participants from the whole world.