Researchers in the UK are developing new techniques to enable use of wastewater in detecting new coronavirus (COVID-19) infection hotspots or a second wave of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
The research, which is bringing together some of the world\u2019s leading experts on wastewater management, is establishing a range of new standardized procedures to identify the virus in wastewater and provide a picture of how COVID-19 is spreading, without the need for testing individuals.<\/p>\n
The researcher also seek to develop best-practices for using molecular genetics tools to identify levels of COVID-19 in wastewater samples; recommended approaches for using levels of COVID-19 in water samples to inform trends and estimates of the spread of the virus in communities; and strategies to communicate the implications of environmental surveillance results with the public health community, elected officials, wastewater workers, and the public<\/p>\n
One key component in enabling wastewater to be used to help track the spread of the pandemic is to monitor the presence of COVID-19 virus genetic markers.<\/p>\n
Professor Vanessa Speight from the University of Sheffield\u2019s Department of Civil and Structural Engineering is co-leading efforts to establish new data analysis and modeling techniques that can be used to reliably interpret the data collected from wastewater samples.<\/p>\n
These techniques could help create a more accurate map of how the virus is spreading as well as the emergence of a second wave of the pandemic. The use of wastewater monitoring for COVID-19 virus occurrence offers a quick way to get an integrated picture of the level of infection across a whole community without the need for testing individuals.<\/p>\n
Professor Speight, who is also a member of the Sheffield Water Center at the University, which works with industry to solve major challenges in the water sector, said: \u201cThere is great potential for wastewater to provide valuable information about the occurrence of COVID-19 across communities. But given that this is a very new field of investigation, we have identified a number of areas where future research efforts should be concentrated to maximize the value of this data.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Researchers in the UK are developing new techniques to enable use of wastewater in detecting new coronavirus (COVID-19) infection hotspots or a second wave of the pandemic. The research, which is bringing together some of the world\u2019s leading experts on wastewater management, is establishing a range of new standardized procedures to identify the virus in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":55717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6031,984],"tags":[6430,8202,8861,8860],"yoast_head":"\n