MILAN - Italy plans to monitor wastewater
nationwide for a possible early warning about any renewed
outbreak of Covid-19 infections, the National Institute of
Health (ISS) said on Wednesday.
The move underscores Italy's hope to be well prepared for
any new wave of the coronavirus. Italy became one of the
countries hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this
year; to date, it has recorded 242,149 cases and 34,914 deaths.
The wastewater-monitoring project will focus on priority
sites such as tourist resorts in a first phase starting this
month. It will be expanded in October with a surveillance
network extended to all Italian cities.
The programme, coordinated by the ISS, will take in regional
agencies, local health authorities, universities and 50 utility
companies. Samples taken from water before it enters urban
waste-treatment plants will be examined for any traces of the
virus in the population, according to the ISS.
"This approach can anticipate...where the virus is
circulating in our country,” said Luca Lucentini, Director of
the Water Quality and Health Department of the ISS.
Last month the Italian National Institute of Health reported
that scientists had found traces of the coronavirus in
wastewater collected from Milan and Turin in December 2019,
suggesting Covid-19 was already circulating in northern Italy
before China reported the first cases.
Research in the Netherlands, France, Australia and elsewhere
has found signs that the virus that causes Covid-19 can be
detected in sewage, and many countries are beginning to sample
wastewater to track the disease.