Wastewater-based Surveillance on SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

The viral load of SARS-CoV-2 as well as Influenza viruses is being tested at selected wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in Germany as part of AMELAG (“Abwassermonitoring für die epidemiologische Lagebewertung”, German for wastewater monitoring for epidemiological situation assessment). Data from 169 WWTPs are currently included in the analyses for SARS-CoV-2 and 99 for Influenza A Virus and Influenza B Virus. For the calendar week 43 data from 136 WWTP were available for SARS-CoV-2 and from 89 WWTPs for Influenza A Virus and Influenza B Virus. Data from other WWTP are provided continuously. A steep increase in the aggregated SARS-CoV-2 viral load can be observed since calendar week 38. The values for the Influenza viruses are currently low. The development observed over the last few weeks may still change due to late notifications, especially from WWTP with large population coverage.