More municipal corporations across the country are now willing to participate in the wastewater surveillance of identifying COVID prevalence in the population and variants in circulation as it has proven to be “efficient and inexpensive with the ability to predict the spike a week or 10 days in advance”, informed noted scientist and former director of CSIR-CCMB Rakesh Mishra.
The waste water surveillance is going at “good pace” in Bengaluru, thanks to cooperation of the local civic bodies and the project is to be soon taken up for other pathogens, including Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and also in other cities in collaboration with Bengaluru based TIGS - Tata Institute for Genetics & Society, where he is the director.
Twin CSIR institutions — Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) have been carrying out the wastewater surveillance programme to check for the prevalence of COVID cases in Hyderabad, from the early days of the pandemic, pointed out Dr. Mishra, in a recent exclusive interaction.
