• 30 March – MedRXiv preprint: Presence of SARS-Coronavirus-2 in sewage (Gertjan Medema, Leo Heijnen, Goffe Elsinga, Ronald Italiaander, Anke Brouwer)
• 3 April – Nature: Wastewater testing could also be used as an early-warning sign if the virus returns. How sewage could reveal true scale of coronavirus outbreak
• 20 May – Environmental Science & technology: In the current COVID-19 pandemic, a significant proportion of cases shed SARS-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) with their faeces. To determine if SARS-CoV-2 RNA was present in sewage during the emergence of COVID-19 in the Netherlands, sewage samples of six cities and the airport were tested using four qRT-PCR assays, three targeting the nucleocapsid gene (N1-3) and one the envelope gene (E). Presence of SARS-Coronavirus-2 RNA in sewage and correlation with reported COVID-19 prevalence in the early stage of the epidemic in the Netherlands.

Het rioolwater als ‘early warning system’

• 31 March – Deutsche Welle (DW): Scientists say they found the virus, that causes COVID-19, in a Dutch city’s wastewater before the first confirmed case in the city. They hope that sewage surveillance may be an early indicator of COVID-19’s presence. “In a city with 100.000 citizens, not everybody is tested,” researchers told DW. “Sewage water is a quicker route to ‘see’ the virus in the population.” Coronavirus in sewage foreshadowed outbreak in Dutch city
• 1 April – Nature World News: “It is important to collect information about the occurrence and fate of this new virus in sewage to understand if there is no risk to sewage workers, but also to determine if sewage surveillance could be used to monitor the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 in our communities.” Sewage Surveillance as Early Warning Signal for Novel Coronavirus Discovered
• 2 April – Daily Mail: The Dutch scientists say the discovery of the virus in sewage means it could be used to provide an early warning system for the possible re-emergence of COVID-19 in a city that has re-opened after lockdown. Coronavirus pathogens in SEWAGE and wastewater could help track the spread of the disease and act as an early warning system for future outbreaks
• 6 April – Medium OneZero: The Key to Tracking Coronavirus Could Be Your Poo: Sewage surveillance could help scientists predict new outbreaks
• 9 April – Water & Wastes Digest: “The detection of the virus in sewage, even when the COVID-19 prevalence is low, indicates that sewage surveillance could be a sensitive tool to monitor the circulation of the virus in the population.” Dutch scientists find coronavirus in city’s wastewater
• 9 April – Bloomberg Quick Take: Can Sewage be a Virus Early Warning System? (video)
• 15 April – Financieele Dagblad (in Dutch): “Het coronavirus is aangetroffen in het riool. Daardoor is op grote schaal testen ook mogelijk om de verspreiding van het virus beter in kaart te brengen. Wateronderzoeksinstituut KWR kan met de metingen vaststellen hoeveel besmettingen er in een gebied zijn”. ‘Het riool geeft eerder een signaal dan dat coronapatiënten zich melden’
• 29 April – Los Angeles Times: Poop may tell us when the coronavirus lockdown will end
• 1 May – New York Times: Is It Safe to Come Out of Lockdown? Check the Sewer
• 22 May – Financial Times: “The UK is preparing to launch a national research programme to detect coronavirus in sewage in a bid to create an early warning system for future waves of Covid-19. The new government initiative is part of an international surge of scientific interest in using wastewater tests as an additional tool to track coronavirus. The UK system is being put together by the government in consultation with universities, water companies and public research bodies, according to three people involved in the discussions“. UK plans to track spread of coronavirus in sewage.

COVID-19 in rioolwater

• 28 March – Nu.nl:  What we learn about the Corona virus through waste water research (animation in Dutch, source www.nu.nl, with English subtitles)
• 30 March – The Week (India): Dutch scientists find coronavirus in wastewater; increases scope of sewage surveillance
• 31 March – Bloomberg World: Dutch Scientists Find a Novel Coronavirus Early-Warning Signal (including audio)
• 31 March – Welt Wissenschaft (in German): Forscher finden Coronaviren im Abwasser – und wittern eine Chance
• 1 April – Watershare: Rosina Girones, Research Group Leader at the University of Barcelona, and Prof. Gertjan Medema, Principle Microbiologist at KWR, shared their key insights on the virus. Summary of the Watershare Webinar on COVID-19 in the water sector (view the webinar from 30 March)
• 1 April – Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (in German): Corona-Viren im Abwasser gefunden: Warum das für Wissenschaftler ein Glücksfall ist (subscription)
• 1 April – Taipei Times: Virus Outbreak: Virus in sewage foretold outbreak in Dutch city
• 2 April – Futurezone (in German): Corona-Früherkennung: Virus soll in Abwasser nachgewiesen werden
• 2 April – De Volkskrant (Dutch): Nog voor artsen het doorhebben, vertelt ons rioolwater waar het coronavirus toeslaat
• 7 April – StatNews: New research examines wastewater to detect community spread of Covid-19
• 8 April – Vice: Looking for the new coronavirus in wastewater could give us a heads up about where the outbreak is spreading—and when it has started to dissipate. Your Poop Might Be Key For Predicting the End of the Pandemic
• 9 April – Bloomberg: Scientists are desperate for a way to detect the novel coronavirus in communities as early as possible. So far, those efforts have focused on widespread testing of people. But a group of Dutch researchers may have discovered a way to tell where the virus is spreading, right beneath their feet. Hunting For the Virus in Sewage (audio / podcast)
• 10 April – Aquarama (in Dutch): Waarom er geen covid-19 in ons drinkwater zit
• 12 April – H2O Actueel (in Dutch): Ook drinkwater dat bereid is uit oppervlaktewater is veilig. “Drinkwaterbedrijven die drinkwater uit oppervlaktewater bereiden, hebben allemaal meervoudige desinfectiebarrières gericht op het verwijderen van bacteriën, virussen en protozoën, die ook geborgd zijn door de Analyse Microbiologische Veiligheid Drinkwater.” Rondrazend virus gedijt niet in water, KWR werkt aan rioolwaterscreening
• 12 April – The Times: Scientists who analysed waste water in Dutch cities believe levels of the virus found in sewage can enable epidemiologists to detect how many people have been infected. Scientists in Holland fight dirty to track coronavirus through sewage (subscription)
• 15 April – Mongabay India: Tracking sewage to surveil COVID-19
• 16 April – Heidi News: Comment des scientifiques traquent Covid-19 dans les égouts, en Suisse et ailleurs
• 17 March – AquaTech: Coronavirus and water/wastewater: a round-up of global advice (including audio)
• 19 April – PompNL (in Dutch): Zit Corona in ons afval/drinkwater?
• 19 April – HealthWire: Can Human Poop Help Track The Spread Of COVID-19?
• 20 April – The World: “We think that the effectivity of the virus may not be that high and that the virus is not very robust — so that in the sewer system, which is a hostile environment for this virus, that it will rapidly be inactivated if it’s infectious, still, after being shed.” ‘Sewage surveillance’ may be early warning tool in fight against COVID-19, says one study (including audio)
• 29 April – Hackathon EUvsVirus: Hackathon team Sewers4Covid (video)
• 4 May – Carte Blanche: COVID-19 in Wastewater – Early Warning of Infection? (video with Frederic Béen)

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