Team of Swiss scientists looking for the coronavirus in wastewater

[kiwibird]

https://www.mbc.news/n/2020/04/swiss...tewater-2.html

• A team of Eawag researchers has been collecting wastewater samples for over a month.
• Keystone
  
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  They hope to find corona viruses in the water.
• AFP
  
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  However, the research team is still in the home office. With a special permit, they can soon return to the laboratories.
• Andri Bryner / Eawag
  
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  First, the latest samples should be examined. So you can follow live whether the infections will soon go back.
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  Eawag’s long-term goal: to establish such a measuring method so that the wastewater could become a kind of early warning system for new coronavirus spreads.

Since the first appearance of the coronavirus in Ticino in early February, a team of researchers from the water research institute Eawag has been collecting samples from the wastewater. They hope to find corona viruses in it, as the SRF radio program “Echo der Zeit” reports.

In the nine largest wastewater treatment plants in Ticino, the research team led by environmental engineer Christoph Ort skimmed off a whole liter of wastewater every day. “There are already more than 300 samples in our freezer rooms,” says Ort to the radio.
Water samples cover excretions from one million Swiss


In the meantime, samples from Lausanne, Zurich and Kloten have also been added to the Ticino water samples. This would cover the excretions of almost a million Swiss. However, it is unclear whether the viruses can be detected in water. However, the scientists are confident and rely on studies in the Netherlands.

So far, the scientists have not been able to investigate Switzerland’s wastewater samples. Christoph Ort and his research team have been stuck in their home office for two weeks. But soon you could go back to the laboratories with a special permit and get to work.