System for the detection of airborne viruses

A system for detection of airborne viruses, the system comprising at least one local detector, the local detector comprising:

• an aerosol collection module arranged to collect an aerosol sample from the air, the aerosol sample comprising particulate matter such as viruses and dust, and further arranged to gather the particulate matter from the aerosol sample onto a collection chip, and
• an analysis module arranged for detecting an amount of the viruses that are part of the particulate matter contained in the collected aerosol sample, the analysis module comprising an optical microscope arranged for performing the steps of:
• determining geometric and optionally dynamic parameters of particulate matter contained in the aerosol sample,
• selecting, based on the determined parameters, candidate viral particles from the particulate matter,
• performing optical spectral measurements on the candidate viral particles, comparing for each candidate viral particle the obtained optical spectrum with a set of predetermined reference optical spectra corresponding to viruses in order to determine whether the candidate viral particle is a virus, and
• determining based on the comparison step the number of detected viruses, i.e. the “total viral content” (TVC) in the aerosol sample, and
• and an output module, wherein the output module is arranged to emit a warning signal when the TVC surpasses a predetermined threshold.