Other countries have been looking for corona virus in wastewater for some time. For example, they want to detect and control very local corona outbreaks at an early stage. Sciensano is examining whether a similar project can be started in Belgium.
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The search for covid in our wastewater should be possible, writes the medical journal ‘Le Spécialiste’. In Italy, for example, they checked the water for traces of the virus. It showed that the virus was already present in the country in December 2019. On the Flemish side, waste water from the entire region was also analyzed by Aquafin, which is responsible for water purification in the north of the country. Aquafin’s samples confirm that the virus is present in all wastewater. “But after the water purification, there is no trace of the virus,” a spokeswoman assures.
In the Walloon Region, the public water management company (SPGE) is currently conducting a series of tests to determine the presence and infectivity of the virus in waste water.
There is currently no overarching approach. That is why Sciensano is now saying that there should be a national project to monitor the concentration of the virus in our wastewater.
The magazine itself sees such monitoring as an efficient and inexpensive way to map the spread of the virus.
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