ALSO READ: H3N2 also spreads like Covid, says ex-AIIMS chief Randeep Guleria As per researchers, capturing coronavirus in this ways would prevent it from reaching and infecting more people, who added the coronavirus could be detected and destroyed using electrical pulses. "We discovered that electric current can pass through the spike protein and because of this, the protein can be electrically detected," co-author of study Essam Dief, a PHD candidate at Curtin University, said. "In the future, this finding can be translated to involve applying solution to a mouth or nose swab and testing it in a tiny electronic device able to electrically detect the proteins of the virus.
This would provide instant, more sensitive and accurate COVID testing," Dief said. The researchers found the spike protein's structure is changed by applying electrical pulses and at certain magnitude of the pulses, the protein is destroyed, thereby potentially deactivating coronaviruses. "So, by incorporating materials such as copper or silicon in air filters, we can potentially capture and consequently stop the spread of the virus," Dief said. "Also importantly, by incorporating electric fields through air filters for example, we also expect this to deactivate the virus," the scientist added.