COVID-19 Patients’ Faecal Matter Need Special Treatment: IIT-Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: With the Odisha capital registering the highest number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the state so far, special waste management systems to deal with faecal matter generated in COVID-19 hospitals could be needed, according to Indian Institute of
Technology-Bhubaneswar (IIT-BBS).

“The urine and stool of patients may contain the virus and it can’t be left untreated. It needs special treatment before it is released into the municipal system. Our teams have studied the methods of special waste treatment for the faeces and urine,” The New Indian Express
(TNIE), in an article titled “Faecal treatment, disinfectant cells on IIT-BBS radar” in its Bhubaneswar edition dated April 9, 2020, quoted Director, IIT-BBS, Prof R V Rajakumar as saying.

The TNIE report said IIT-BBS is working on a waste management mechanism to deal with faecal matters generated in COVID-19 hospitals of the State. The team, comprising researchers from the institute’s Environmental Engineering department, “has studied the outcome and is ready to provide the assistance any time,” Prof Rajakumar said.

Another news report titled ‘Sara Sahararay Byapijiba Bhutanu (The Virus Will Spread In The Entire City)’, published in leading Odia daily Sambad in its Bhubaneswar edition on April 10, 2020, quoted Rajakumar as saying that corona positive patients while undergoing
treatment at hospitals use toilets to urinate and excreta several times during a day and hence there is possibility of transmission of virus.

This, in effect, could mean that urine and excreta of an infected person if released in the municipality sewerage pipes can create problems for the larger public.

For the record, of the 48 COVID positive cases confirmed in Odisha thus far, 38 have been reported from Bhubaneswar.

However, Rajakumar, in a mail to Odisha Bytes, said, “The WHO study on SARS Cov did not show any evidence of spread of virus from sewage lines. IIT Bhubanewar’s review of the related research did not say that it will spread COVID-19 across Bhubaneswar. We did not conduct any such study. There is no evidence of spread through sewerage lines either from experience of SARS and SARS-COV2.”

According to the newspaper reports, IIT-BBS is working on different projects including management of COVID patients’ faecal matter, setting up of disinfectant chambers, installation of fogging machines and spraying tools and manufacturing of cheap ventilators, disinfectants and sanitizers.