Sewage water can help detect asymptomatic cases of COVID-19: Reports
New Delhi/ IBNS: A group of scientists in the United States is testing sewage water to detect hidden cases of novel coronavirus, a CNN report said.
The scientists detected traces of COVID-19 genetic material, also known as RNA, in faecal matter, while testing sewage water.
New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer said this data will help the administration know about the asymptomatic cases of coronavirus.
Meyer said that New Castle County did the tests with the help of Biobot, an MIT based start-up, and the first-week results will be out soon.
He said the test will be conducted at 10 treatment facilities across the county of 5,60,000 people and may help find where the asymptomatic cases were present.
In another report by Bloomberg, Dutch scientists already traced the contagion in wastewater treatment plant on March 5 in Amersfoort even before COVID-19 cases were reported in the city.
With the growing number of coronavirus cases, the density of the pathogen in sewage water could increase, Gretjan Medema and a group of scientists at the KWR Water Research Institute in Nieuwegein had earlier said, reported Indian Express. The novel coronavirus is often released in an infected person's stool, the report added.
