Wastewater analysis to bring early detection of Covid outbreaks

A system that provides very early warnings of Covid outbreaks from analysis of wastewater is under trial in the UK. The government co-ordinated project is using findings from studies that have been underway since the early weeks of the Covid pandemic’s spread beyond China.

The methods used could detect the presence of the virus in communities and institutions like schools and halls of residence and include Infected people who are showing no symptoms

Researchers from the universities of Newcastle, Bangor, Edinburgh and Bath found that fragments of the Coronavirus’ genetic material can be detected in sewage and have honed methods to monitor reliably the virus in wastewater treatment plants (the June 2020 edition of THE WATER REPORT).

According to Defra, testing has now been rolled out across more than 90 wastewater treatment sites, covering some 22% of the population in England, with “plans to expand in the future.”

The UK project is being coordinated by Defra, the Environment Agency and the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) which was set up to inform local and national decision-making in response to Covid outbreaks.

Monitoring public health issues through sewage analysis is an established practice. Professor of soil and environmental science at Bangor University, Dr Davey Jones, said his teams had, for the past ten years, monitored viruses in human sewage, such as those that cause hepatitis. He said they added coronavirus to the surveillance list in March this year. “We showed that viral levels in wastewater mapped really well onto the success of lockdown measures in the first Covid wave and to the emergence of the second wave.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “This is a significant step forward in giving us a clearer idea of infection rates both nationally and locally, particularly in areas where there may be large numbers of people who aren’t showing any symptoms and therefore aren’t seeking tests.”