German expert: Using wastewater for early detection of "Corona"

Wastewater is a reliable indicator of the evolution of the fight against the Corona virus, and can provide early warnings of a wave of infection, according to a German expert.

"The technology is fully developed, the methods are in place - the system can be set up at any time. All that is really lacking is the political will," Susan Lackner, a professor in wastewater management at Darmstadt Technical University, told dpa. .

The university is one of only two reference laboratories in Europe involved in sequencing wastewater samples.

The lab analyzed samples from about 50 wastewater treatment plants across the continent.

Lackner stated that researchers worldwide have demonstrated that it is possible to use wastewater treatment plants as an early warning system.

"Basically, development is being detected in wastewater much earlier than in the medical field ... the onset is four to 10 days earlier, depending on the technology," Lackner said.

According to the expert, Lackner, by examining the wastewater, it is possible to see two main things: one is an increase or decrease in the concentration of the virus - that is, whether the number of people infected is greater or less - and the other is the type of corona virus that is circulating.

Lackner explains that this technology is not new.

"Such methods have been used successfully in the past to monitor the polio virus," she says.