Researchers test wastewater to identify Covid-19 hotspots

A team of researchers has confirmed that a new approach that involves assessing wastewater can help in tracking prevalence of Covid-19 in a city.

The team, which included researchers from Arizona State University (ASU), confirmed the breakthrough after assessing wastewater samples from the city of Tempe in the US.

The process is called wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE). It involves mining sewage samples to procure vital information about human health.

According to the researchers, this process can be implemented locally and a global scale to locate coronavirus hotspots. Additionally, the WBE is effective in identifying asymptomatic cases who egest the virus but do not exhibit any symptoms.

ASU Center for Environmental Health Engineering Director Rolf Halden was quoted by local publication azfamily.com as saying: “I think we are cautiously optimistic in the signal we are seeing.”

In Tempe, the testing was divided into five sections. The researchers procure samples to detect Covid-19 traces. Higher concentration of coronavirus indicated higher rate of infected people in the region.

Recently, the rate of concentration in Tempe has dropped indicating decrease in the number of cases.

According to the publication, ASU researchers now aim to expand the research across the world.

Halden told azfamily.com: “We have measured and we have calculated that we could provide this service for the entire United States and for kind of 70% of people in the US within two weeks.

“And we could measure 2.1 billion people around the world in a couple of months if there’s a desire to do so.”