感染防止、下水を調べよ　豪、コロナ検出なら住民検査

Australia, sewage and resident inspection for COVID19 detection

Efforts to connect the new coronavirus detected in sewage to infection control are becoming active in Australia. Australia has succeeded in controlling infections as the situation worsens in each country. Furthermore, it can be said that it is an "aggressive" response that attempts to pick from the buds of infection.

Sydney, Australia's largest city. Approximately 100 bottles of sewage are brought to the water quality inspection facility of Sydney Water (State Water Authority) every week. It was collected from sewerage facilities in various parts of New South Wales, and the purpose is to check for the presence of the new coronavirus.

The nucleic acid is extracted by adding a chemical solvent to the substance remaining on the filtered paper and crushing it into small pieces. Analyze the data for viruses by using a PCR test device. Results will be available within 48 hours. The huge amount of sewage contains only a small amount of virus. The detection/analysis method was established in collaboration with domestic water utilities and research institutes in April.

The public corporation explains, "Isn't it one of the most accurate and quick ways to detect the presence of a virus in the world?"

The results of the analysis are sent daily to the State Department of Health. When the Department of Health determines that "an unidentified community infection may have occurred" around the facility where the virus was detected, it calls on residents to be tested.

Cars were lining up in a corner of the parking lot of a commercial facility in the Rosehill district in northwestern Sydney on the 13th. It is a drive-through type temporary inspection facility. It was installed because a coronavirus was detected in a nearby sewerage facility. No reservation is required and free. Staff collects mucus from people's noses through car windows.

The laboratory was set up by the private St. Vincent Hospital. Gregory Granger, the director of the laboratory dispatched from the hospital, said, "I received a phone call from the state on the 9th asking if a temporary laboratory could be set up. The examination started the next morning." When the Health Bureau called on more than 18,500 people living in the area on the 11th to be tested, 4575 people were tested in the entire district by the 16th, confirming that there were no cases of infection in the city.

■ Even on days when there is no infection in the city:

Australia banned foreigners from entering the country in March and succeeded in controlling infection by imposing restrictions on going out. From July to October, a "second wave" broke out in the second city, Melbourne, but in November, the number of new cases of community-acquired infections was reduced to zero on some days.

Source: https://digital.asahi.com/articles/DA3S14706484.html?pn=3