Spatial and temporal trends of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from wastewater treatment plants over 6 weeks in Cape Town, South Africa
Date
2021-11-17
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
Recent scientific trends have revealed that the collection and analysis of data on the occurrence and fate of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater may serve as an early warning system for COVID-19.
In South Africa, the first COVID-19 epicenter emerged in the Western Cape Province. The City of
Cape Town, located in the Western Cape Province, has approximately 4 million inhabitants. This
study reports on the monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the wastewater of the City of Cape Town’s
wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) during the peak of the epidemic. During this period, the
highest overall median viral RNA signal was observed in week 1 (9200 RNA copies/mL) and declined
to 127 copies/mL in week 6. The overall decrease in the amount of detected viral SARS-CoV-2 RNA
over the 6-week study period was associated with a declining number of newly identified COVID-19
cases in the city. The SARS-CoV-2 early warning system has now been established to detect future
waves of COVID-19.
Description
CITATION: Street, R. et al. 2021. Spatial and temporal trends of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from wastewater treatment plants over 6 weeks in Cape Town, South Africa. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(22):12085, doi:10.3390/ijerph182212085.
The original publication is available at www.mdpi.com
The original publication is available at www.mdpi.com
Keywords
COVID-19 (Disease) -- South Africa -- Western Cape, COVID-19 (Disease) -- Research -- South Africa, Sewage disposal plants, Wastewater-based epidemiology, Epidemiology -- Research -- South Africa -- Western Cape
Citation
Street, R. et al. 2021. Spatial and temporal trends of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from wastewater treatment plants over 6 weeks in Cape Town, South Africa. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(22):12085, doi:10.3390/ijerph182212085.