The department would like to share a recent publication regarding COVID-19 research from a concerted effort of several researchers from different institutions to discover the potential carrier of Sars-CoV-2 virus in hospital wards. Spearhead by Dr. Mohd Shahrul Mohd Nadzir from the Department of Earth Sciences and Environment together with Assoc. Prof. Dr Nazlina Ibrahim and Dr Norefrina Shafinaz Md Nor from our department, the team collected air samples from hospital wards and use qRT-PCR to detect viral RNA from the membrane filter. The team suggested that the virus may latched to particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) in the ward atmosphere. However, the viral load could be affected by the number of patients, symptoms and ward's design. Click the link to get the article Particulate matter (PM2.5) as a potential SARS-CoV-2 carrier (2020) Scientific reports.

The team comprise of: Norefrina Shafinaz Md Nor, Chee Wai Yip & Nazlina Ibrahim (Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia UKM, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia) Mohd Hasni Jaafar (Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Medical Centre, 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) Zetti Zainol Rashid (Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Medical Centre, 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) Norlaila Mustafa (Consultant Physician and Endocrinologist, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Medical Centre, 56000, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) Haris Hafizal Abd Hamid, Mohd Talib Latif & Mohd Shahrul Mohd Nadzir (Department of Earth Sciences and Environment, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia) Phei Er Saw & Kemal Maulana Alhasa (Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Epigenetics and Gene Regulation, Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510120, People’s Republic of China) Kuhan Chandru (Institute of Climate Change, Space Science Centre (ANGKASA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia) Chin Yik Lin (Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) Jamal Hisham Hashim (Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Selangor, 40000, Shah Alam, Malaysia) Contributions M.S.M.N. conceptualized the idea. M.S.M.N., N.S.M.N., N.I., K.C. and Z.Z.R. aided in the study design. M.S.M.S. performed indoor air sampling procedures. M.S.M.N. drew the wards layout. N.S.M.N., C.W.Y. and N.I. did the qRT-PCR and rRT-PCR analyses. M.S.M.N., N.S.M.N., K.C., C.W.Y., and C.Y.L. wrote the early and the latest versions of the manuscript. All authors contributed equally to the data analysis and interpretations. All authors co-wrote the final version of the paper.

Corresponding authors: Nazlina Ibrahim or Mohd Shahrul Mohd Nadzir.