BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Covid-19 cases have been on a consistent decline, the Odisha government has decided to go for surveillance of sewage water for detection of early signalling of spread of SARS-CoV2 or its newer variants.
It has been decided to conduct the study in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri keeping in view the floating population in the areas. Later, the study will be extended to Rourkela and Berhampur.The wastewater surveillance will be conducted by the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) in collaboration with the Health and Family Welfare department and Housing and Urban Development department.
The decision to go for a comprehensive study of sewage on detection of coronavirus or any other new virus was taken at a recent high-level meeting with public health experts from Institute of Life Sciences, AIIMS, SCB MCH, RMRC and Orissa Water Supply and Sewerage Board.
Director of Public Health Dr Niranjan Mishra said while studies over the past year have shown the presence of novel coronavirus in toilet water that goes through a drainage system to a treatment facility, several countries have already started wastewater surveillance to detect local outbreaks and alert residents.
“Researchers found people excrete the virus in their faeces and urine much before showing other symptoms of Covid-19. We expect testing sewage water could help detect the virus and it can be an early indicator of a potential outbreak,” he said.Using sewage samples from wastewater treatment plants, scientists can use the RT-PCR method to detect and quantify the amount of RNA from SARS-CoV-2 or any other virus in different areas.
The RMRC has submitted a proposal for the study taking into account the epidemiological analysis as well as vulnerability of outbreak of any pathogen disease. The Housing and Urban Development department has been asked to extend all support for the study to be conducted regularly.Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have already introduced city sewage surveillance systems in Bengaluru and Chennai to identify potential Covid-19 clusters.