The treatment plant, Vakin, in Umeå sends water samples weekly to SLU in Uppsala, to analyze how high a proportion of covid-19 is in the wastewater.

On the way down

Last week's figures showed a sky-high spread of infection in Umeå.

This week's values ​​have decreased, but Umeå is still the highest among the places tested.

- It started to increase significantly in early January.

Then it has gone pretty fast, especially the last four weeks, says Maja Malmberg, researcher at SLU.

The water samples show that the two omikron variants have dominated after the turn of the year.

Right now, the new omicron variant, BA2, accounts for 80-90 percent of the positive cases.

The infection control unit at Region Västerbotten follows the development in the wastewater and has a shared view that the spread has been high.

- We know that we have had a high spread of infection, we see this in screening of care staff where twelve percent have been positive without symptoms.

We have also looked at telephone calls at 1177 which have increased.

It looks like it is turning down now, says assistant infection control doctor Gunilla Persson.

No connection with major events

Gunilla Persson has a hard time seeing that Umeå's peak last week had any connection to the Swedish Rally.

- There were many more people in the city who lived here.

But if they came from parts that have a lower spread of infection, the wastewater should have been diluted and the number should have been lower, says Gunilla Persson.

Hear Maja Malmberg in the clip above.