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 6 data from 61 WWTP were available for SARS-CoV-2 and from 52 WWTPs for influenza A virus and influenza B virus. Data from other WWTP are provided continuously. Recently, a slightly decreasing aggregated SARS-CoV-2 viral load can be observed. The values of influenza A and B viruses have increased significantly in recent weeks, with higher values for influenza A than for influenza B. The development observed over the last few weeks may still change due to late notifications, especially by WWTP with large population coverage.