IIT-Gandhinagar Scientists Find 3 SARS-CoV-2 Genes In Ahmedabad’s Wastewater

Gandhinagar: A study led by scientists of IIT-Gandhinagar, has detected, for the first time, the presence of all three SARS-CoV-2 genes, ORF1ab, N and S virus in wastewater collected from Old Pirana Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Ahmedabad.

The study further found that the increased gene copies of the virus in Ahmedabad’s wastewater matched the incidence of the disease in the city.

“The plant receives up to 106 million lts per day (MLD) of influent from the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital which is treating COVID-19 patients,” Healthwire quoted Manish Kumar as explaining. He is the Discipline of Earth Sciences, IITGN, who led the research effort.

According to the report, scientists of the institute collaborated with the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) to study samples of wastewater collected on May 8 and May 27. The researchers have submitted their study for publication in the international journal ‘Science of the Total Environment’.

With this, India joins the ranks of a handful of countries doing WBE on COVID-19, Andrew Singer, an environmental microbiologist at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, tweeted.

The latest research is expected to pave the way for using wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) for real-time surveillance of COVID-19 in the country.