Sewage surveillance system to detect COVID infection clusters in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Due to the rising positive cases of COVID-19 in Bengaluru, the Government of Karnataka launched a city-wide sewage surveillance system, which will track the virus even among asymptomatic individuals at its early stage. It is set to start from 45 wards initially. In order to identify the infection clusters for better resource management against COVID-19, samples will be collected by next week from those wards.

Rakesh Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Department, said that the sewage surveillance system is set to cover 75 per cent of Bengaluru’s nine million population. It will generate over 90 data points per week, thereby signaling the emerging COVID-19 clusters in the city or signaling a COVID-19 clusters exit from an area.

The drive is an initiative of Covid Action Collab (CAC) in association with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It is also supported by a nation-wide collaborative of over 300 organisations and networks in India, who are working together to provide COVID-19 relief and recovery services to the nation’s most vulnerable communities.

An official statement from Karnataka government stated that scientists around the world have discovered waste water testing can serve as a cost effective early warning system. The Precision Public Health Surveillance system in Bengaluru is first of its kind in Asia, which will test sewage from different areas of the city to identify clusters of infections. Early identification will give policymakers and response team the information they need to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic in a better way.