COVID‐19, caused by the SARS‐CoV‐2 virus, has become a significant global public health problem, with a wide variety of clinical manifestations and disease progression outcomes. LncRNAs are key regulators of the immune response and have been associated with COVID‐19 risk infection. Previous studies focused mainly on in‐silico analysis of lncRNA expression in the lungs or peripheral blood cells. We evaluated the expression of lncRNAs NEAT1, MALAT1, and MIR3142 in saliva and nasopharyngeal swab from SARS‐CoV‐2 positive (n = 34) and negative patients (n = 46). A higher expression of the lncRNAs NEAT1 and MALAT1 (p < 0.05) were found in positive samples. NEAT1 had a higher expression mainly in saliva samples (p < 0.001), and MALAT1 was upregulated in nasopharyngeal samples (p < 0.05). Area under the ROC curve for NEAT1 in saliva was 0.8067. This study was the first to investigate the expression of lncRNAs in saliva and nasopharyngeal samples of COVID‐19 patients, which gives new insights into the initial response to infection and infectivity and may provide new biomarkers for severity and targets for therapy.

Screening efforts and genomic surveillance are essential tools to evaluate the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and assist the public healthcare system in dealing with an increasing number of infections. For the analysis of COVID-19 cases scenarios in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil, we performed a diagnosis of positive cases, coupled with genotyping, for symptomatic and asymptomatic members of the Federal University of Paraná. We achieved over 1000 samples using RT-qPCR for diagnosis. The posterior genotyping allowed us to observe differences in the spread of strains in Curitiba, Brazil. The Delta variant was not associated with an infection wave, whereas the rapid Omicron variant spread became dominant in less than one month. We also evaluated the general vaccination coverage in the state, observing a striking reduction in lethality correlated to the vaccinated fraction of the population; although lower lethality rates were not much affected by the Omicron variant wave, the same effect was not translated in the number of infections. In summary, our results provide a general overview of the pandemic’s course in Paraná State and how there was reduction in lethality after a combination of multiple infection waves and a large-scale vaccination program.

SARS-CoV-2 environmental monitoring can track the rate of viral contamination and can be used to establish preventive measures. This study aimed to detect by RT-PCR the presence of SARS-CoV-2 from inert surface samples in public health settings with a literature review about surface contamination and its burden on spread virus. Samples were collected from health settings in Curitiba, Brazil, between July and December 2020. A literature review was conducted using PRISMA. A total of 711 environmental surface samples were collected from outpatient areas, dental units, doctors’ offices, COVID-19 evaluation areas, and hospital units, of which 35 (4.9%) were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The frequency of environmental contamination was higher in primary care units than in hospital settings. The virus was detected on doctors’ personal items. Remarkably, the previously disinfected dental chair samples tested positive. These findings agree with those of other studies in which SARS-CoV-2 was found on inanimate surfaces. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA on surfaces in public health settings, including those not meant to treat COVID-19, indicates widespread environmental contamination. Therefore, the intensification of disinfection measures for external hospital areas may be important for controlling community COVID-19 dissemination.

Quick and reliable mass testing of infected people is an effective tool for the contingency of SARS-CoV-2. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Point-of-Care (POC) tests using Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) arose as a useful diagnostic tool. LAMP tests are a robust and fast alternative to Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and their isothermal property allows easy incorporation into POC platforms. The main drawback of using colorimetric LAMP is the reported short-term stability of the pre-mixed reagents, as well as the relatively high rate of false-positive results. Also, low-magnitude amplification can produce a subtle color change, making it difficult to discern a positive reaction. This paper presents Hilab Molecular, a portable device that uses the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence to pre-analyze colorimetric data. In addition, we established manufacturing procedures to increase the stability of colorimetric RT-LAMP tests. We show that ready-to-use reactions can be stored for up to 120 days at −20 °C. Furthermore, we validated both the Hilab Molecular device and the Hilab RT-LAMP test for SARS-CoV-2 using 581 patient samples without any purification steps. We achieved a sensitivity of 92.93% and specificity of 99.42% (samples with CT ≤ 30) when compared to RT-qPCR.

Here we describe a novel immunogenic method to detect COVID-19. The method is a chromogenic magnetic bead-based ELISA which allows inexpensive and quantitative detection of human IgG or IgM antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in serum or whole blood samples in just 12 minutes. As a proof of concept, we compared the performance of our new method to classical ELISA. Person correlation between optical densities obtained using the two methods was 0.98, the color intensity observed in the novel method correlated with antibody titers determined by classical ELISA. The novel magnetic bead-based ELISA correctly classified all 6 positive COVID-19 samples tested and showed 100% specificity as judged by the analysis of a cohort of 26 negative samples. The magnetic bead-based ELISA performed better than classic ELISA to discriminate COVID-19 positive serum with low antibody titer. The chromogenic magnetic bead-based ELISA method described here can be applied to both point of care and high throughput analysis. The method is readily adaptable to be used with other protein and peptide-based antigens.