'Water-way' to track down the virus

Sunday 21 February 2021

Samples of wastewater could be used to help early identification of Covid-19 outbreaks in the future.

Wastewater monitoring was introduced in the UK last year as a way to flag up potential new outbreaks and to target their 'test and trace' resources at areas that have seen a spike in cases.

There is no evidence of infectious levels of SARS-CoV-2 being transmitted via wastewater, however it has been used to identify fragments of viral genetic material. This information can then be used in conjunction with other Public Health measures to help early identification.

Public Health Director Dr Nicola Brink confirmed that wastewater monitoring is "something we are already considering".

"What you can do is look at various sewage outlets and, you won’t get the whole virus, but what you can do is find the viral nucleic acid," she explained. "You can use that to map out areas where you are seeing an increase in nucleic acid."

Pictured: The UK Government's programme is providing an early warning of corona virus outbreaks by monitoring sewage and sharing data with NHS Test & Trace. 

"Then you can go back and see what population that wastewater was serving and who is generating that wastewater, then go back and do some more detailed testing."

Netherlands was the first country to introduce wastewater monitoring and it has since been picked up other countries including the UK, France, Australia and Germany. 

"It is something we are looking at as part of our ongoing surveillance programme," said Dr Brink. "It has been done in the UK and Welsh Water are also doing it in some detail."

The detection method could theoretically by applied to identify any virus or disease that is causing Public Health concerns.