NEW DELHI: Scientists of the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) and the officials of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have found the traces of SARS-CoV-2 virus in the sewage samples of various cities. The samples have been collected since December 2020 as part of a pilot project and the experts said that testing wastewater can serve as a cost-effective early warning system which could help in arresting the virus spread before it goes out of control.
Vikram Kumar, Municipal Commissioner, PMC, told The Indian Express that wastewater tracking has been used before the COVID-19 pandemic to track polio. The officials at PMC explored the chances of using environmental water surveillance to monitor the activity of the virus, he added. The civic body has appreciated the work done by the NCL and suggested that this should be continued ahead for tracking the potential third wave. Four sewage treatment plants (STP) under the civic body, a drain which opens up into a river and one more STP on NCL campus were selected for the study.
The Government of Karnataka has introduced a city sewage surveillance system in Bengaluru and CSIR-Cellular Molecular Biology (CCMB) scientists are also conducting similar studies in Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and few cities of Andhra Pradesh.