St Andrews University awarded three Covid-19 research projects

Ministers commissioned rapid research by the academic research community in Scotland on the diagnosis, management and mitigation of the impact of Covid-19 infection and its aftermath in Scotland.

Each of the St Andrews projects is due to start in May and last for around six months.

One projects involves identifying community Covid-19 cases and exploring differences with patients diagnosed in healthcare settings. The research applies computer techniques to extract information from a tracker app and link this with medical records to get a better idea of the true number of people with the disease.

The second, modelling the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 virulence under different social isolation regimes, will use theoretical models to investigate how the virulence of SARS-CoV-2 evolves in response to different social distancing strategies.

The third will use a multiscale mathematical model to simulate Covid-19 infection. The research will create a spatial mathematical model for Covid-19 that simulates infection in the body and the spread of disease from person to person.