QIAGEN N.V. announced it has completed a U.S. government contract to equip public health laboratories across the country with the QIAcuity digital PCR system to monitor the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic by testing wastewater for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 pathogens. QIAGEN has shipped more than 35 QIAcuity systems to state and local health laboratories as part of a multi-million-dollar contract with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) to supply COVID-19 instruments and consumables through the end of 2021. More than 70% of all U.S. states now have at least one laboratory – either public health or privately-owned – with a QIAcuity system for wastewater surveillance.

The ultra-sensitive digital PCR platform has set new standards for delivering rapid results in two hours rather than the six required by competitive systems based on a proprietary nanoplate-based system. Surveillance testing allows public authorities to collect data from broad sweeps of the population, including people who are not reflected in public-health statistics because they lack access to healthcare. It can potentially reveal dynamic changes in infections – and mutations – earlier than traditional diagnostic testing, providing public-health officials with near-real-time data about the presence and intensity of the disease.