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The culverts can draw an accurate map of the neighborhoods where most cases of infection Covid-19 is in a city and even to what extent has affected the population of those places. And it is capable of doing it up to 15 days before the disease shows its face and shows the first symptoms. Studies on the information that the genetic trace of the coronavirus may contain show that it is effective for early detection of the pandemic and that it will be a very useful tool in de-escalation. Valencia will be the first city to undergo this test continuously in the coming months thanks to the agreement signed between the Valencian Generalitat, the Superior Center for Scientific Research ( CSIC) and the Valencian company specialized in comprehensive water management Global Omnium , which covers 5.5 million people in more than 300 Spanish cities.

Until the end of 2020, several points in the city and the treatment plant to which the sewage lines are discharged will be subjected to three analyzes a week in search of the remains of the coronavirus RNA, to know in what quantity they are manifested and what is the evolution. The task will be carried out altruistically by the Global Omnium laboratory, Gamaser, which has been collaborating with CSIC researchers for three years in the detection of infectious viruses such as hepatitis in both residual and regenerated water, for which the tool has been trained , baptized as ' SARS-GOAnalytcs ', and has an Early Warning System that allows the data to be instantly known.

The tests done so far have allowed, with a sample taken at the entrance of the treatment plant, to determine which was the branch of the city of Valencia with the most genomic units of the virus , although it is not active and has lost its contagion capacity. "We detected 250,000 units and were able to limit that in four neighborhoods there was no charge, that in three others it ranged from 20,000 to 30,000 and that in the eighth it shot up to 200,000, because it was the setting of a hospital," says Eugenio Calabuig , president. from Global Omnium, to EL MUNDO.

The president of Global Omnium, Eugenio Calabuig, and the CSIC researcher, Gloria Sánchez, in a videoconference with the president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig.EM

Another detail that the study shows is when the virus began to circulate through the drains. "In the samples we had from a specific point taken in January, the result is zero; on March 11, three days before confinement, there were already 700,000 genomic units. And on March 26, 3.5 were detected in that same place million units, "he details.

This method, described as "pioneering" by the Minister of Science, Pedro Duque , will start in Valencia but the intention is to extend it to other large cities "because it would allow us to determine which populations have the lowest incidence of the virus even before an outbreak occurs. and it would be a precise daily data to check how de-escalation works ", explains the President of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig , at the signing of the collaboration agreement.

"It cannot replace diagnostic tests, but it will help to monitor the population of how the coronavirus circulates in the cities. Because there are studies that show that infected people expel virus fragments in the faeces up to 42 days after infection," explains Gloria. Sánchez , from the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC) and titular scientist of the CSIC.

Global Omnium assures that it has the capacity at the moment to apply this tool, which will have "zero cost" for Valencia , in 50 more cities and in two weeks they plan to reach up to 300. But its usefulness is not limited to the public. "We could also tell a hotel every day if it has hosted people who already have the virus despite being asymptomatic, which could help them apply their protocols," adds Calabuig.

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  • Valencian Community
  • Valencia
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19

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