Wastewater-based Surveillance on SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 viral load in wastewater 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). In 2025, up to 70 wastewater treatment plants are to be sampled for SARS-CoV-2, influenza A virus and influenza B virus. The data collected will be integrated into this report in the coming weeks. For the calendar week 3 data from 14 WWTP were available for SARS-CoV-2 and from 14 WWTPs for influenza A virus and influenza B virus. Data from other WWTP are provided continuously. Currently, no clear trend can be observed in the aggregated SARS-CoV-2 viral load. The values for influenza A and B viruses exhibit an strongly increasing trend within the last weeks. The development observed over the last few weeks may still change due to late notifications, especially by WWTP with large population coverage.