Developed by the Suez Group, it will allow us to know the incidence of this mutation of the virus in large areas of the population in a rapid way

The City Council of Roquetas de Mar and the company Hidralia, responsible for the integral water cycle in the municipality, have since August the tool 'Covid-19 City Sentinel', which allows analytical monitoring of wastewater to quantify the presence of the SARS-Cov-2 virus in real time, having an online platform that collects all the results of the samples and links them with demographic and epidemiological data.

This innovative tool, developed by the Suez group (to which Hydralia belongs), serves to anticipate the emergence of possible new regrowths in the population, thanks to the monitoring of the evolution of wastewater through its digital support, which easily and immediately enables access to the data.

In mid-December 2020, a new variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 was identified in the UK, which reportedly has a higher infective capacity, increasing transmissibility by 40 to 70%. It is therefore especially important to know its incidence within a population. This is why a rapid method (results in less than 24 hours) has been developed from Suez by PCR for the determination of this variant in wastewater. This, together with existing epidemiological control networks, makes it an effective tool for controlling the evolution of the pandemic and its monitoring in localities.

It will also be used by CIAP

This method will also be used by the Consortium of the Integral Water Cycle of The West (CIAP) which is regularly carrying out specific analyses to detect the presence of genetic material of SARS Cov 2 in wastewater throughout the region, with the aim that the comparisons of each sampling allow to know the evolution of COVID19 of the consorced municipalities , and the incidence of the British strain is now collected.

The analyses of these collections are being carried out by Labaqua, laboratory of the Suez Group and national reference in the implementation of PCR techniques, so in addition to Roquetas de Mar we will also learn about the evolution of the British variant of Coronavirus in Vicar, La Mojonera, Enix and Felix.

To this end, a sampling plan is combined, adapted to the particularities of the municipality (in the case of Roquetas five independent sectors are measured by zones), with rapid analysis with PCR techniques and its implementation in a Digital Observatory, which allows to know and compare the results for decision-making.

In this way Suez and its territorial brand Hidralia, have made available to Roquetas their experience and knowledge of sanitation networks and discharge control for the sectorization of the sewerage of the municipality in areas of influence that help to trace the origin of SARS-CoV-2 when detected.