Résumé
The various crises are having a significant impact on the entire food sector and are changing the attitudes of Europeans as well as policies on the importance of food security and sustainably produced quality and safe food for consumer health. The paper focuses on the consumer's fear of food security for the time of the first wave of COVID-19 and the associated concern for food security in the future and the changes in consumer behaviour. The online survey in Slovenia was conducted in June 2020 using a "snowball" method. The sample included 490 individuals. The results showed that both measured forms of fear (i) fear over food security during the first wave of COVID-19 crisis, and (ii) fear over food security in the future were statistically significant, moderately strong and positively associated with almost all forms of self-perceived behaviour change caused by the COVID-19 crisis. The respondents focused more on buying locally produced and processed food, food stockpiling and decreasing food waste. Only minor changes were expressed with regards to their food purchasing channels, with the elderly, the highly educated and those who classified themselves in a higher social class buying more often directly from farmers. In the future, the results of this research should be compared with other countries and the impact of an individual's economic situation and the impact of promotional campaigns on agricultural products on changing consumer behaviour should also be analysed in more detail.
Résumé
The COVID-19 pandemic affected public health, economy, social life, and the environment. It infected and killed millions of people around the world. Most of the recent literature has focused on the medications to combat this virus, including antivirals and vaccines, but studies about its effect on the environment are still rare, particularly on the water sector. Most of the studies concentrate on the effect of water availability on COVID-19, the effect of the used medications on the water, and the probability of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through water. Herein, we have summarized the effects of COVID-19 on the water sector from many perspectives. We show different methods to detect the effect of the pandemic on water and also methods to investigate the presence of the virus or its RNA in the water. We also show the different effects of its presence in the wastewater, the probability of transmission, the detection of different variants, and the prediction of new waves. We also show the disadvantages and advantages of the pandemic in the water sector. We finally suggest some recommendations to face this pandemic and the future pandemics for the governments and water policymakers, water treatment plants, general population, and researchers. The aim of this review is to show the different aspects of the pandemic in order to give a general idea about what must be done in order to minimize its effect and any probable pandemic in the future.
Résumé
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is a powerful and cost-effective tool for investigating chemicals consumption/pathogens infection and health status of populations, and is rapidly evolving as COVID-19 continues to ravage the world. This paper reviews the significant developments and breakthroughs of WBE in 2021 including collection, pretreatment and analysis of sewage samples, materials stability, correction factors calculation and uncertainty analysis, implementation cases and so on, based on the research findings published in international top academic journals or the most influential achievements. It provides reference for clarifying the development of WBE and promoting the research and application of WBE.
Résumé
The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for the hotel industry, with rooms being converted into quarantine centres and leading to an increase in waste volume and composition. With frequent lockdowns and stringent guidelines by governments on social distancing, 60% of hotels converted 10% of their rooms into quarantine facilities, which drastically changed the composition of hotel waste (JLL, 2020). This waste may lead to environmental degradation if handled inappropriately. The primary objective of this study is to identify, compare and highlight the challenges faced in waste management practices in two different circumstances, namely pre-COVID and during-COVID, in the hotel industry. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire put to hoteliers in selected hotels in India. A total of 61 responses were recorded out of 100 respondents. Descriptive analysis indicated new practices in hotel housekeeping such as use of single-use PPE kits, arrangement of separate zones for disposing of medical waste and digitalization of services. Another interesting finding of the research is the aggravation of single-use plastic in the form of disposable crockery, cutlery and packaging of PPE kits. Lastly, the study showed an increase in operational costs and highlighted innovative procedures in existing waste management disposal practices and suggested new practices that will be of great significance for dealing with similar episodes in the future.
Résumé
Background: Reports showed presence of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material in wastewater. Wastewater concentration methods are optimized for detection of non-enveloped viruses so need to be adopted for enveloped viruses and their genetic material. Methods: Conventional (cRT-PCR) and quantitative real time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) were used as readouts to compare 4 water concentration methods namely, (A) filtration on negatively charged membrane followed by extracting RNA from it, (B) adsorbtion-elution method, (C) flocculation with skimmed milk and (D) polyethylene glycol precipitation, to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA and 229E human coronavirus (229E-HCoV) as a model for spike-containing enveloped virus from fresh and wastewater. Results: On using cRT-PCR: recovery rate of SARS-CoV-2 RNA was better using method A then B for fresh water and method B then D for wastewater. 229E-HCoV recovery from fresh water was better using method C then A and methods B then D for wastewater. On using qRT-PCR, both methods A and B were better for SARS-CoV-2 RNA recovery from both fresh and wastewater. For the 229E-HCoV methods A was the most efficient for fresh water and method B for wastewater. Conclusion: Method B is recommended for SARS-CoV-2 RNA or whole 229E-HCoV recovery from wastewater.
Résumé
The tourism sector has played an important role in the development of the world economy, mobility and globalization. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the sector needed to implement urgent measures and adaptations. This article aimed to identify which are the environmentally sustainable practices developed by a tourist enterprise of a rural property located in the municipality of Garibaldi-RS. In methodological terms, a single-type case study strategy was used with an exploratory and descriptive approach, operationalized with qualitative and quantitative research techniques. As data collection instruments, online interviews were used with the owner of the enterprise, respecting the recommendations of social isolation. The answers were recorded, tabulated and analyzed using the content analysis technique. Numerical data were tabulated using Excel software. The family responsible for the production unit, Familia Boroto, is fully dedicated to the organic production. The owner expressed concern about environmental sustainability and in this sense reported that the enterprise develops environmentally sustainable practices and, among them, they use solid waste management and recycling and he added that the health crisis brought a drop in revenue and little demand for organic products. In response, the producer made changes in management practices, such as process readaptation, innovation and entry into new markets. Thus, it was concluded that, even in the pandemic period, the venture had positive points and environmentally sustainable practices emerge as an opportunity to value products and services.
Résumé
The world is on the threshold of the third wave of the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic with over 118 million infected and over 2.6 million deaths. Over the past year, knowledge has been growing about the ways of spreading the infection, including oral-fecal transmission, as a result of the discharge of untreated municipal wastewater laden with the virus from the excrement of infected persons. On the other hand, it has been confirmed that the concentration of viruses in wastewater correlates well with the number of infected people, especially with the 14-day incidence, and therefore the analysis of wastewater provides a good insight into the regional epidemiological situation (water-based epidemiology, WBE) and can be used as a sensitive parameter in monitoring epidemiological trends. This paper provides an overview of the results of previous research on the ways of virus transmission, the main sources of viruses in waste water, the degree of loading of waste water and environmental samples, the survival of the virus in waste water and environmental samples, and techniques for removing and inactivating the virus in waste water. The world is facing the third wave of the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemics, with over 118 million persons infected and over 2.6 million dead. In the past year, insights into the infection spread routes, including faecal-oral transmission due to untreated urban wastewater discharges containing the virus from excretions of infected persons. It has been also confirmed that the virus concentration in wastewater has a good correlation with the number of infected persons, particularly for a 14-day incidence, so that wastewater analysis provides a good insight into regional epidemiological situations and wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) can be used as a sensitive parameter in the monitoring of epidemiological trends. This paper provides an overview of to-date research regarding the virus transmission routes, main virus sources in wastewater, load level in wastewater and environmental samples, virus survival in wastewater and environmental samples as well as techniques of virus removal from wastewater and its deactivation.
Résumé
Food waste is a worldwide phenomenon that needs to be reduced. The causes of this problem vary widely. The study used the Computer-Assisted Web Interview method. There were 500 respondents from all over the country and among them 60% women and 40% men. The sample selection was purposeful. Before the pandemic began, the highest percentage of consumers shopped two to three times a week. As of March 2020, the frequency of this activity has decreased for every fourth respondent. Also during this period, an increase in the frequency of shopping alone was observed, as well as an increase in the number of people who outsource their shopping list to others. Nowadays, the vast majority of respondents usually create a shopping list before doing it and follow it. Before the pandemic, this was the case for only 46% of respondents, while during the pandemic it was the case for 81%. Exceeding the expiration date was the most common reason for throwing products in the trash before as well as during the pandemic. Over-shopping as a cause of food waste increased almost fourfold during the pandemic. A positive aspect is noticeable for the 'I don't throw food away' response. The percentage of respondents increased from 16% to 21%. During both survey periods, respondents most often indicated that they throw away fruits, vegetables, bread, and dairy products. During the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers' shopping behaviour changed. They attended grocery stores far less frequently, mostly on their own, and purchased larger quantities of products. Nonetheless, consumers planned their purchases and checked expiration dates before putting food in their shopping carts. Households were thus forced to respond quickly, adjusting their shopping behaviour. These behaviours have implications for the subsequent activities of retail merchants.
Résumé
Agricultural products have taken center stage due to the COVID-19 pandemic as countries strive to become self-sufficient and independent. Despite this, Agri-products supply chain management has largely been ignored. Farmers are typically in charge of getting these products to market. The local market suffers because of the significant quantity of agricultural products wasted along the Agri-Food supply chain (AFSC), and export revenue is at risk. To address the issue of food waste in AFSC, this study identified the sources of food waste and proposed corrective measures for the local farming industry. Stakeholders from the farming community, transportation companies, and retailers were conducting semi-structured interviews and coding them using open-source coding. Lack of cold storage and improper handling and packaging of products have been found to have a negative impact on the distribution process in developing countries. In this regard, a well-designed supply chain strategy, network design, and information system can alleviate these issues. Farmers and transporters must be taught how to minimize damage during transport. Recycled packaging material can also be used, saving money while reducing the likelihood of product damage. This is among the pioneer studies that focus on the causes of food waste in AFSC in Pakistan.
Résumé
The impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on human life, air quality, and river water quality around the world have received significant attention. In comparison, assessments of the implications for freshwater ecosystems are relatively rare. This study explored the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on aquatic ecosystems in the Yangtze River by comparing river water quality, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish data collected at the site in the middle reach of the Yangtze River in 2018 and 2020. The results show that during COVID-19 lockdowns, the reduction in industrial and domestic effluent discharge led to a reduction in organic pollution and industrial plant nutrient pollution in rivers. Among them, PO43--P, CODMn, and TP were significantly decreased (p < 0.05). During lockdowns, nutrient supplies such as TN and TP were reduced, which led to inhibition of algae growth and decreased phytoplankton abundance. Phytoplankton affects the abundance of zooplankton through a bottom-up effect, and a decrease in phytoplankton density leads to a decrease in zooplankton density. The decrease in plankton density led to lower primary productivity in rivers, reduced fish feed supplies, intensified competition among fish populations, with increases in population dominated by high trophic level carnivorous fish. In addition, the decrease in fishing intensity has contributed to an increase in the number of rivers-sea migratory fish;the fish community was earlier mainly dominated by small-sized species with a short life cycle, and the number of supplementary populations has now increased. As a consequence, the fish community structure shows a tendency toward high complexity and high fish diversity. Overall, these observations demonstrate that the rapid revival of the retrogressive Yangtze River ecosystem is possible through limitation of anthropic interferences.
Résumé
OBJECTIVE: To understand the status of generation and management of medical waste in medical institutions of Chongqing. METHODS: By means of onsite investigation and questionnaire survey, the generation categories and current status of management of medical waste in 50 medical institutions were investigated from Oct 2021 to Apr 2022 the existing limitations and prominent problems in the whole-process management of medical waste were identified so as to enable the safe disposal of medical waste based on laws and regulations. RESULTS: The average pollutants generation coefficient of medical waste was 0.22-0.72 kg/bed.day among all the grades of hospitals, the average pollutant generation coefficient of medical waste was 0.28-2.30 kg/10 people among grass-root medical institutions. The management of medical waste was more standardized in tertiary hospitals. There were a variety of problems in management of medical waste in clinics and village clinics, such as nonstandard classification of medical waste, unreasonable site selection for temporary storage of medical waste, unsatisfactory transportation means and untimely collection and transportation of medical waste. The problems of chemical, pharmaceutical and pathological medical waste were more prominent. The costs of disposal of medical waste were not strictly implemented in accordance with standards. The packaging, storage, loading, handover and disinfection of COVID-19 medical waste have been carried out in accordance with regulations. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to further standardize the management of medical waste, explore and formulate the collection and transportation modes of medical waste in primary medical institutions, intensify the supervision of classification, collection, storage, transportation and disposal of medical waste, optimize and upgrade the medical waste management information system, and encourage subsidies for the disposal of medical waste in Chongqing medical waste disposal enterprises during the COVID-19 period.
Résumé
Spread prevention actions (SPAs) during Coronavirus pandemic period, such as increased hand-washing, temporary lock-downs, preventions in transportation, and the reduction of recreational and industrial activities may change the routines in social behaviors. Accordingly, SPAs can be effective on the quality and quantity of raw municipal wastewater. This research evaluates the aforementioned hypothesis and recommends solutions for the proper operation of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Methods: For this purpose, the quantity and quality of sewage in 23 municipal WWTPs in Isfahan province, as the study area, were surveyed and compared from 2015 to 2020. SPSS software (version 23) was used for statistical analysis. Results: Results indicated that the annual growth rate of sewage discharged in the spring and summer of 2020 (period of SPAs) in the study area is 24% more than the average of annual growth rate in long-term (2015-2019). This increase is 45% in small WWTPs, while it is only 5% in large WWTPs. Results also revealed that the concentration of chemical oxidation demand (COD) of sewage was reduced 24% on average in this period. In addition, the biodegradability of wastewater is increased in large WWTPs mainly due to the decrease of industrial activities. Conclusion: Therefore, SPAs in the pandemic period of Coronavirus could increase the quantity of municipal wastewater and reduce its COD concentrations. These variations may provide more appropriate operational conditions for waste stabilization ponds rather than activated sludge units.
Résumé
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered panic buying of food, face masks, gloves, cleaning products and hand sanitizers. Change in food practices, dynamics of plastic and biomedical waste generation during the pandemic has, however, stirred the woes of household solid waste management. The virus loaded waste from indiscriminately discarded face masks, gloves and other biomedical waste with the regular waste stream could cause serious health risks. The present study was undertaken to find out the situation of waste management systems during pandemic outbreak by the households. An online survey was conducted via Google form using well-structured questionnaire. The study covered a sample size of 100 homemakers using simple random sampling technique. Only 45% of households agree with the satisfaction in current waste management system. A majority of 59% of the respondents are burning the household medical waste, 70% of respondents saw the need to avoid mixing of household waste with the PPE products, 64% of respondents are not educated by local authorities on proper waste disposal, and 81% of respondents think there is no sufficient waste management information to the public. Of respondents 54% received awareness regarding the disposal of household medical waste during COVID19 outbreak via social media. Household solid waste management training is important to improve the hygiene and sanitation practices of community people. The current study showed that participants who received training on household solid waste management were significantly correlated with good hygiene practices.
Résumé
In this article, experts highlighted their experiences with employing a wastewater-based epidemiological surveillance (WBE) approach to track coronavirus infection levels in local communities in an online symposium. The objective of the Water Research Commission (WRC)-hosted symposium was to share knowledge on the progress that has been made in South Africa in monitoring the spread of COVID-19 using the WBE approach. With insights from collaborating partners, the establishment of South African Collaborative COVID-19 Environmental Surveillance System (SACCESS) has become one of the most significant development to date in terms of WBE surveillance in South Africa. With SACCESS and WBE, advance warnings about outbreaks can be made, such that the data collected using the WBE approach enabled researchers to predict the surge in clinical cases in April in KwaZulu-Natal three weeks before it happened. But risk is still prevalent for the health of wastewater workers or in the reuse of treated effluents, as well as the absence of WBE surveillance in non-sewered communities. With this, research has been made on developing and optimising the methodology for SARS-CoV-2 detection, quantification and monitoring in different types of samples from non-sewered environments. The detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in 98% of the wastewater samples collected has demonstrated the proof of concept for using WBE surveillance to track COVID-19. Continued WBE sampling at priority sites will allow for the expansion of pandemic trend monitoring. In terms of the impact on public health decision-making, only the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Provincial Department of Health have incorporated WBE into their local responses.
Résumé
The emergence of SARs-Cov-2 has severely impacted on the progress made so far on the sustainable development goals in SSA. The current ineffective water and healthcare sectors in many African countries could serve as a deterrent to an impending crisis. This mini review aims to highlight the opportunities and threats to the water and healthcare sector in a post pandemic era. Recent studies indicate that the virus have been found in water bodies including wastewater and sewage and this could serve as a potential medium of mutation of the virus. In addition, SSA have poor waste management implementation and sanitation especially within rural and densely populated areas. This coupled with lack of adequate supply of potable water can see SSA fall back in achieving the SDGs. The struggle against climate change and recently Covid-19 will devastate socio-economic development of many countries within the SSA region. Climate change has impacted on water accessibility and quality and Covid-19 requires adequate water supply to reduce human-to-human transmission. This will see a severe stress on already existing stresses in the water and health sectors which can eventually led to a system collapse. Urgent attention is therefore required through the design and implementation of programs aimed at building resilience to climate impacts and prepare for future pandemics.
Résumé
Human enteric viruses initially contained in the feces of infected people are generally expelled into streams through sanitary systems and survive under physical, chemical, and biological conditions in the water. Environmental factors such as water temperature, hydrogen potential, organic material as well as dilution with rainwater or runoff determine virus concentrations in contaminated water, making these pathogens amenable to quantification using ribonucleic acid (RNA) or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) segments, respectively, and incorporating highly sensitive molecular techniques such as Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). This offers an opportunity to obtain concentrations of viruses causing enteric diseases, using wastewater discharged by the same human communities;it is a possibility to establish non-invasive epidemiological surveillance models for these diseases and to generate a focused public health response. The question arises as to whether this option is applicable in Colombia, i.e., is domestic wastewater an alternative for non-invasive epidemiological surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 and other human enteric diseases in the country, useful for the symptomatic and asymptomatic population as a whole during the disease? To try to answer this concern, speculative opinions were incorporated by the author in different subchapters of the text, which was complemented with a discussion based on scientific literature consulted in Scopus, Google Scholar, and Scielo databases.
Résumé
During the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater-based epidemiology has emerged as a promising approach for monitoring SARS-CoV-2 prevalence on a community-level. Despite much being known about the utility of making these measurements in large wastewater treatment plants, little is known about the correlation with finer geographic resolution, such as those obtained through sewershed sub-area catchments. This study aims to identify community wastewater surveillance characteristics between sewershed areas that affect the strength of the association of SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in a metropolitan area. For this, wastewater from 17 sewershed areas were sampled in Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky (USA), from August 2020 to April 2021 (N = 727), which covered approximately 97% of the county's households. Solids were collected from the treatment plants from November 2020 to December 2020 (N = 42). Our results indicate that the sewersheds differ in SARS-CoV-2 trends;however, high pairwise correlation spatial trends were not observed, and the mean SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations of smaller upstream community sewershed areas did not differ from their respective treatment centers. Solid samples could only be collected at treatment plants, therefore not allowing us to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 abundance as a function of the sewershed scale. The population size sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 concentration detection is non-linear: at low population levels the measures are either too sensitive and generate a high level of variability, or at high population levels the estimates are dampened making small changes in community infection levels more difficult to discern. Our results suggest selecting sampling sites that include a wide population range. This study and its findings may inform other system-wide strategies for sampling wastewater for estimating non-SARS-CoV-2 targets.
Résumé
Wastewater-based epidemiology has played a significant role in monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic, yet little is known about degradation of SARS-CoV-2 in sewer networks. Here, we used advanced sewershed modeling software to simulate SARS-CoV-2 RNA degradation in sewersheds across Houston, TX under various temperatures and decay rates. Moreover, a novel metric, population times travel time (PT), was proposed to identify localities with a greater likelihood of undetected COVID-19 outbreaks and to aid in the placement of upstream samplers. Findings suggest that travel time has a greater influence on RNA degradation across the sewershed as compared to temperature. SARS-CoV-2 RNA degradation at median travel times was approximately two times greater in 20 degrees C wastewater between the small sewershed, Chocolate Bayou, and the larger sewershed, 69th Street. Lastly, placement of upstream samplers according to the PT metric can provide a more representative snapshot of disease incidence in large sewersheds. This study helps to elucidate discrepancies between SARS-CoV-2 viral load in wastewater and clinical incidence of COVID-19. Incorporating travel time and SARS-CoV-2 RNA decay can improve wastewater surveillance efforts.
Résumé
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic triggered panic buying of food, face masks, gloves, cleaning products and hand sanitizers. Change in food practices, dynamics of plastic and biomedical waste generation during the pandemic has, however, stirred the woes of household solid waste management. The virus loaded waste from indiscriminately discarded face masks, gloves and other biomedical waste with the regular waste stream could cause serious health risks. The present study was undertaken to find out the situation of waste management systems during pandemic outbreak by the households. An online survey was conducted via Google form using well-structured questionnaire. The study covered a sample size of 100 homemakers using simple random sampling technique. Only 45% of households agree with the satisfaction in current waste management system. A majority of 59% of the respondents are burning the household medical waste, 70% of respondents saw the need to avoid mixing of household waste with the PPE products, 64% of respondents are not educated by local authorities on proper waste disposal, and 81% of respondents think there is no sufficient waste management information to the public. Of respondents 54% received awareness regarding the disposal of household medical waste during COVID19 outbreak via social media. Household solid waste management training is important to improve the hygiene and sanitation practices of community people. The current study showed that participants who received training on household solid waste management were significantly correlated with good hygiene practices.
Résumé
The object of this paper is to study briefly the current scenario of Impacts on Environment due to Bio Medical waste generated due to COVID-19. This review study aims at discussing the linkage between COVID-19 and biomedical waste management. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has already turned healthy places around the world into a living hell with massive death tolls because of its fastest-spreading nature, and continuously leading to lockdowns in almost every part of the world. Amid all the problems so far it created, one significant problem that can create major havoc in this already devastating and contagious atmosphere in a densely populated city is, not handling medical waste properly. It was a systemic review study regarding the relationship between COVID-19 and biomedical waste management.As environmental and public health crisis continues due to Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19), there is an exponential rise in the quantity of biomedical waste in India. While increase in biomedical waste during pandemic is reasonable and foreseeable, an effective solution for medical waste disposal is crucial. Due to severe lacks in management of biomedical waste in India with its poor infrastructure and lack of human resources, has made it more challenging. Therefore, to battle this serious problem, the government has come up with new rules and guidelines under existing Biomedical Waste Rule-2016.