Govt plans to check sewage load to track Covid spread

India will monitor sewage load to detect the spread of Covid-19, people in the know told ET. A sewage surveillance programme exists in India to track the spread of polio virus. "Just like that, SARS-CoV-2, a waste water surveillance programme, can help in predicting the Covid-19 spread," added the person.

As reported by ET earlier, the department of biotechnology has drawn up a detailed sewage surveillance plan, which will be rolled out through the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (Insacog), a network of 35 genome sequencing laboratories. This technology involves testing effluents of colonies in high density areas at the wastewater treatment plant facility to detect any probable Covid-19 outbreak.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu-based SRM Institute of Technology created a set of standard operating procedures for wastewater surveillance which the NITI Aayog adopted and passed on to the states and union territories for consideration. However, states couldn't move ahead with these plans as the second wave hit at the same time.


The wastewater surveillance platform that aims to promote systematic wastewater surveillance for early detection and prevention of disease outbreaks by creating an early warning sewage surveillance system. The process involves collecting samples from identified sites. Lab technicians test the samples to check for presence or absence of SARS-CoV-2.

The samples will also be tested for genomic surveillance) to track mutations in the virus.