The highly infectious Delta variant of Covid-19 has been detected in wastewater at 25 treatment plants in the Western Cape.
SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) scientists said they made the discovery after obtaining reagents to test for the Delta variant.
"[The team] detected it as the dominant variant in towns in the Breede Valley (Worcester, Rawsonville, Touws River and De Doorns), Theewaterskloof (Bot River and Villiersdorp) as well as in 19 wastewater treatment plants in the Cape Town metropole,” said Dr Rabia Johnson, deputy director of the SAMRC biomedical research and innovation platform.
“For the past two months, SAMRC scientists have been screening for the presence of mutations associated with the Alpha and Beta variants in wastewater ... and found both the Alpha and Beta variants, with the Beta variant being predominant.”