Sewage checks in Bengaluru to identify Covid-19 clusters at the earliest

Photo Credits: PTI

The Karnataka government will initiate testing of sewage water to check the presence of Covid-19 virus with a city-wide surveillance system where small proportions of Covid-19 will be the lead to identify the cluster zones.

The state government has planned to commence the testing throughout 45 wards in the city, according to Additional Chief Secretary of the Urban Development Department, Rakesh Singh.

He said, “The system will cover over 75% of Bengaluru’s 90 lakh population by generating over 90 data points per week signalling the emerging Covid-19 clusters or signalling a Covid-19 cluster’s exit from an area. We are happy to launch this model in Bangalore, first in India.”

The department revealed the project was instituted in collaboration with PCMH Restore Health and Wellness which is under CovidActionCollab (CAC).

CAC is a collaboration of 300 organizations in India, backed by United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Skoll Foundation, will cater to the requirements of the state government to roll out the new system.

The scientists have discovered that waste-water assessment can be a cost-effective early warning system to review the surge in the Covid-19 cases prior to the rise in the official figures, said Rakesh Singh.

“Covid-19 response and give policymakers the information they need to better allocate limited pandemic resources,” Singh added.

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