Aussie scientists find fast, cheaper way in tracing COVID-19 in wastewater

Canberra: Researchers from Australia’s national science agency have discovered a faster and cheaper way to detect coronavirus outbreaks through wastewater.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) revealed that it has refined the methods of concentrating and recovering the virus from wastewater samples, which can indicate the presence of COVID-19 carriers in the community regardless of whether they show symptoms.

In the latest study, scientists have confirmed the most cost-effective and rapid virus recovery process which extracts virus information from wastewater, so it can be tested, with each sample now taking between 15 to 30 minutes to process.

Warish Ahmed, a CSIRO researcher who led the study, said that wastewater monitoring would be crucial in preventing the spread of COVID-19.