Johannesburg - Scientists at a laboratory in KwaZulu-Natal believe they have made a new revelation in the war against Covid-19 – using wastewater to detect virus hotspots.
They believe that by extracting water samples from the wastewater treatment system, they can determine where the hotspots are and, by so doing, focus public health officials towards focus intervention strategies in specific areas for the virus.
The Hilton-based lab, GreenHill Laboratories, said they were the first lab on the continent to detect Covid-19 RNA in sewage as part of their commercial virus risk forensic service.
The project was spearheaded by Professor Anthony Turton of the University of the Free State, a specialist in water resource management, and Amanzi-4-All, coordinated by Neil Madgwick of Praecautio, with sampling undertaken by Kevin Lindsay of Instru-Serve.
They said the process involved taking bulk composite samples at five wastewater treatment centres in Gauteng before taking the samples for testing at the KZN lab.
Dr Shaun Groenink, a director at the GreenHill Laboratories’ director, said the samples were processed and analysed by principal molecular biologist, Dr Cara-Lesley Bartlett.
He said the viral Covid-19 RNA was extracted and identified based on protocols published by the Dutch KWR Water Research Institute and the USA’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Speaking to IOL on Monday, Groenink said the move was significant because it could help government in identifying Covid-19 hotspots quicker by actively taking samples at the countries more than 800 wastewater treatment centres.
“It is very difficult for government to be able to check every one in a population of almost 60 million people, so by sampling wastewater we are able to help the public health service with planning and increasing the effectiveness of the system by detecting early areas where the viral load of the virus is high,” he said.
Groenink said based on population data and knowledge of where wastewater was from, they would be able to provide a scientific estimate of where the number of Covid-19 infected people was high.
He said they had presented their findings to the Department of Water and Sanitation and were awaiting feedback from the department.
Groenink said if their system was used, they would deploy samplers to wastewater treatment centres who would collect samples between every 15 to 30 minutes for a predetermined period.
He said depending on the viral load of the virus, they would be able to deduce for the Department of Health, areas where they should accelerate public health programmes.
He said the turnaround time for the tests was between 24-48 hours.
Groenink said the country's 824 wastewater treatment sites were not sufficient to cover the entire population, and they would also be able to gather samples where there was no waterborne system.
Groenink said their proof of concept delivered found that:
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Covid-19 can be detected in wastewater.
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South Africa has the capability for this testing – samples do not have to be sent to other countries for testing
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Statistically relevant sampling and timeous delivery to the laboratory are possible and that there was no existing protocols and kits have been used – there is no need to develop specific kits
Greenhill Laboratories Chairman Austin Hlongwane said he was proud of the team.
“Their dedication, desire to experiment, out-of-the-box thinking and personal passion is unparalleled. As a result, I am hopeful for positive outcomes in the fight against Covid-19.”