Environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in municipal wastewater to monitor COVID-19 status in urban clusters in Malaysia

Aziz, Muhamad Afiq and Norman, Syuhada and Mohamed Zaid, Suzaini and Simarani, Khanom and Sulaiman, Raha and Mohd Aris, Alijah and Chin, Khor Bee and Mohd Zain, Rozainanee (2023) Environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in municipal wastewater to monitor COVID-19 status in urban clusters in Malaysia. Archives of Microbiology, 205 (2). ISSN 0302-8933, DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-023-03417-y.

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Abstract

Wastewater monitoring for SARS-CoV-2 has attracted considerable attention worldwide to complement the existing clinical-based surveillance system. In this study, we report our first successful attempt to prove the circulation of SARS-CoV-2 genes in Malaysian urban wastewater. A total of 18 wastewater samples were obtained from a regional sewage treatment plant that received municipal sewage between February 2021 and May 2021. Using the quantitative PCR assay targeting the E and RdRp genes of SARS-CoV-2, we confirmed that both genes were detected in the raw sewage, while no viral RNA was found in the treated sewage. We were also able to show that the trend of COVID-19 cases in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor was related to the changes in SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels in the wastewater samples. Overall, our study highlights that monitoring wastewater for SARS-CoV-2 should help local health professionals to obtain additional information on the rapid and silent circulation of infectious agents in communities at the regional level.

Item Type: Article
Funders: COVID-19 Special Research Grant, Universiti Malaya CSRG007-2020ST
Uncontrolled Keywords: COVID-19; Malaysia; Municipal; Wastewater; SARS-CoV-2 RNA
Subjects: R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine
T Technology > TC Hydraulic engineering. Ocean engineering
Divisions: Faculty of Science > Institute of Biological Sciences
Faculty of the Built Environment
Depositing User: Ms Zaharah Ramly
Date Deposited: 17 Oct 2023 02:47
Last Modified: 24 Oct 2023 04:14
URI: http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/38673

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