Africa-Press – South-Africa. Mask up and social distance – that’s the advice the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) is giving the public as it sees an increase in Covid-19 samples at several wastewater treatment plants in the Western Cape.
President and CEO of the SAMRC, Professor Glenda Gray, said there had been “sharp increases” in Covid-19 concentrations at several wastewater treatment plants in Cape Town, De Doorns, Rawsonville, and Worcester in the past week.
The SAMRC has been surveilling over 80 wastewater treatment plants to track the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gray said in the last week, the team had seen higher concentrations of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater.
“The increase in SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations in our wastewater programme coincides with an increase in the proportion of positive Covid-19 tests recently reported by the NICD,” said Gray.
The NICD’s latest weekly testing summary shows an increase in the number of people testing positive for Covid-19. The report covering the first week shows the percentage testing positive was 6.7%, an increase from the previous week’s 5.5%.
Positive tests were highest in Gauteng (9.2%), followed by Western Cape (7.9%), Free State (7.1%), Limpopo (6.7%), Eastern Cape (5.6%), and North West (5.3%).
Professor Angela Mathee, a member of the SAMRC wastewater surveillance team, said similar increases had not been seen in Gauteng, northern KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Eastern Cape, and Free State, which also form part of the wastewater surveillance programme.
“We will be paying close attention to next week’s results to ascertain further changes, should they occur.
“Over the next few weeks, it may be prudent for those at risk to revert to basic protective measures, such as wearing masks in crowded indoor spaces, or when caring for people who are ill, being fastidious about hand hygiene and keeping up to date with Covid-19 vaccinations or booster shots,” said Mathee.
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