DeepVerge subsidiary develops new version of Covid-19 wastewater test

DeepVerge said on Friday that its Modern Water subsidiary has completed the development of its third-generation compact ‘Microtox PD’ Covid-19 detection system, which was now scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2022.

The AIM-traded firm said the upgraded system “significantly expanded” pandemic surveillance capabilities to towns, villages, hospitals, hotels, ports, locations where large groups of people gathered, extending the reach of real-time national pandemic response to local community level.

It said Modern Water Mobile Services (MWMS) was positioned as a “critical new component” in the “armoury” of national and regional governments amid the pandemic.

The service allowed utilities to extend their reach into smaller sites for more granular 'last mile' surveillance, enabling local authorities and private companies to protect citizens and customers by monitoring for Covid-19 and a range of additional pathogens, including “forever chemicals”.

It said the service included real-time detection of the virus in the community at source, zero transport costs of non-virus confirmed samples, and variant testing only on confirmed virus at the laboratory.

“Size, cost, reach and route to market have been heavily thought through with our new 3rd generation designs,” said chief executive officer Gerry Brandon.

“The units are now smaller - allowing them to be installed for smaller populations; mobile - allowing them to be taken to where populations gather; mass producible - allowing more affordability for customers; and just as importantly, available for new partner opportunities.

“We have also built into our business model the capability for these units to be manufactured and franchised to companies in the developing world, to be sold at locally affordable prices.”

Brandon said that over the last 18 months, the company recognised the potential of its tech for mass surveillance for the benefit of public health, from monitoring large populations down to individual monitoring.

“It is our vision for Microtox PD to become a standard part of home or office utility and this latest generation model is a giant leap towards that vision being reality.”

At 1043 GMT, shares in DeepVerge were up 0.93% at 27.25p.