Singapore to test waste water to trace COVID-19

Web Desk

With an average of more than 200 new corona virus cases every day for the past week, the Singapore government had reported earlier that they are in the process to begin the stage two of re-opening the economy.
Singapore presently has right around 42,000 COVID-19 cases – a number which is too big for a country with 5.7 million people. The “Lion City” has now promised to support the health of the 325,000 foreign workers who work mostly in extreme jobs, which locals avoid doing like construction, shipyards, waste management and landscaping.
The administration of Singapore has now introduced a fascinating way of testing human waste and wastewater for signs of the pathogen.
The National Environment Agency (NEA), National Water Agency PUB and Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX), during a joint press statement last week declared that a pilot surveillance programme has been set to screen wastewater samples for the coronavirus.
With the assistance from scientists from local universities as well as Singapore-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) – the inspecting and testing technique was advanced. Their first objective was to concentrate on surveying the circumstance and lessening the transmission of the novel coronavirus at the dormitories.
Access to this sort of information could support a surveillance programme to identify areas where there is proof of COVID-19 flare-ups without requiring the testing of all individuals. It is also relatively inexpensive and could be useful for countries, for example in Africa, that do not have the technical or logistical means to test carriers of the virus.