The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) has partnered with LuminUltra to create a laboratory for wastewater surveillance testing at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
This pilot project is supported by funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program. It will use LuminUltra’s technology to test for the presence of sub-variants of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron virus and Monkeypox in wastewater from planes and airport terminals.
Such data could be used to help public health officials make policy decisions with regard to people’s ability to travel.
Dwayne Macintosh, Director of Safety and Security at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority said:This project aims to demonstrate that wastewater surveillance testing is an important tool for keeping travel open and available to Canadians. As Canada’s largest airport, Toronto Pearson is leading the industry in exploring trials that leverage testing technology like this to help understand how data from airports can support public health officials in making smarter, more timely decisions.
Testing wastewater for specific viruses is a non-invasive method for measuring community health trends.
The onsite laboratory at Toronto Pearson is equipped to run all required steps to process PCR tests with a rapid turnaround time.
