Wastewater samples may show ‘upswing’ in Covid-19

Analysis of wastewater samples in SA’s industrial hub of Gauteng show an increasing incidence of Covid-19.

Samples from wastewater plants in Johannesburg and around Pretoria, the capital, that contain Covid-19 fragments are increasingly common even as the presence of the fragments across the country remains low, the South African Medical Research Council said in a report on Friday. 

“These increases may be an early signal of an upswing in cases,” the SAMRC said. 

Wastewater analysis is seen as an early indicator of increasing spread of the coronavirus among communities. Scientists have been predicting that a fifth wave of infections with the virus could start in April or May. To date over 100,000 South Africans have officially died from Covid-19, making it the hardest hit country on the continent.

The omicron variant dominates all samples so far sequenced with the Delta variant found in isolated samples in Johannesburg and Pretoria earlier this year.

On Thursday 1,481 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed in SA, a fraction of the daily record of more than 26,000 seen in December, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

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