South African Medical Research Council launches a wastewater-based early warning system for Covid-19

Cape Town | The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) has recently established a wastewater-based early warning system for COVID-19 in various parts of the country – the SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance Dashboard was launched today.

Tracking of wastewater plays a key role in the development of early warning systems (EWS) for various enteric viruses. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 RNA has been successfully isolated and quantified in the wastewater of a growing number of countries.

The new system, although currently focused on COVID-19, has broader application to develop an early warning system for diseases such Hepatitis A, measles and Norovirus.

Soon after the start of the pandemic, the SAMRC brought together five of its research units including Environment and Health Research Unit, the Biomedical Research and Innovation Platform, the Tuberculosis Platform, the Genomics Centre and the Biostatistics Unit, to design and coordinate the project. The team completed laboratory and field proof of concept studies and is now embarking on the full implementation of longer-term surveillance system in high risk settings.

International advisors and external academic partners including Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in US, and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation have also been brought on board to meet the SAMRC’s goals of establishing the project in multiple provinces across the country.

SAMRC President and CEO, Professor Glenda Gray said by monitoring wastewater they are able to predict a rise in COVID-19 cases within a week or more before it is usually detectable through human testing. “We are very excited about the prospect of curbing COVID-19 transmission and saving lives using this technology, especially when undertaken in partnership with public health officials”, Gray said. 

“At this stage we are rolling out monitoring sites in Cape Town, the Breede River Valley in the Western Cape, the Mopani and Vhembe Districts in Limpopo and the OR Tambo and Amathole Districts in the Eastern Cape”, said Professor Renee Street from the SAMRC’s Environment & Health Research Unit. She also added that the project would soon be extended to include Gauteng.

Street adds that the SAMRC will soon be launching a dashboard on its website so that the public will be able to freely check on findings at some of the study sites – the dashboard will be updated on a weekly basis. “In so doing we hope that relevant public health authorities will be able to use the results to mount timeous interventions to reduce community spread of COVID-19, such as alerts to health professionals, scaled up public awareness programmes on the importance of wearing face masks, physical distancing and hand hygiene, as well as increased testing and tracing.”

“Through the SAMRC wastewater monitoring project we have already been able to alert public health officials in the City of Cape Town and the Breede River Valley of spikes in SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels, which gives them valuable time to prepare for increases in COVID-19 cases and to intervene wherever possible,” said Professor Angela Mathee of the SAMRC Environment & Health Research Unit, adding that a major advantage of wastewater monitoring is that it includes symptomatic as well as asymptomatic cases in a community.

The SAMRC’s Biomedical Research Innovation Platform (BRIP) established methods for SARS CoV-2 RNA detection in wastewater and is responsible for training partner institutions with the focus being on the Historically Disadvantaged Institutions (HDIs). “Capacity development is a key element of the project – students and staff from the Universities of Venda and Fort Hare have already been trained in the laboratory methods while trainees from Sefako Makgatho and Walter Sisulu Universities will soon join this group”, said Dr Mongezi Mdhluli, a member of the SAMRC’s Executive Committee.

NOTE TO THE EDITOR:

Led and funded largely by the SAMRC, the project also received support from the Solidarity Fund, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation.

Access the SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance Dashboard here.