ABSTRACT
Wastewater-based Epidemiological (WBE) surveillance offers a promising approach to assess the pandemic situation covering pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic cases in highly populated area under limited clinical tests. In the present study, we analysed SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the influent wastewater samples (n = 43) from four wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Gandhinagar, India, during August 7th to September 30th, 2020. A total of 40 samples out of 43 were found positive i.e. having at least two genes of SARS-CoV-2. The average Ct values for S, N, and ORF 1ab genes were 32.66, 33.03, and 33.95, respectively. Monthly variation depicted a substantial rise in the average copies of N ([~]120%) and ORF 1ab ([~]38%) genes in the month of September as compared to August, while S-gene copies declined by 58% in September 2020. The SARS-CoV-2 genome concentration was higher in the month of September ([~]924.5 copies/ L) than August ([~]897.5 copies/ L), corresponding to a [~] 2.2-fold rise in the number of confirmed cases during the study period. Further, the percentage change in genome concentration level on a particular date was found in the lead of 1-2 weeks of time with respect to the official confirmed cases registered based on clinical tests on a temporal scale. The results profoundly unravel the potential of WBE surveillance to predict the fluctuation of COVID-19 cases to provide an early warning. Our study explicitly suggests that it is the need of hour that the wastewater surveillance must be included as an integral part of COVID-19 pandemic monitoring which can not only help the water authorities to identify the hotspots within a city but can provide up to 2 weeks of time lead for better tuning the management interventions. HIGHLIGHTS{square} Study unravels the early warning potential of wastewater based surveillance of COVID-19. {square}Adequate SARS-CoV-2 RNA were detected despite of limited reported case in the vicinity. {square}Up to 2 weeks of lead is possible from a regular wastewater based COVID-19 surveillance. {square}SARS-CoV-2 RNA was higher in September than August in response to a [~] 2.2-fold rise in COVID-19 active cases. Graphical Abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=88 SRC="FIGDIR/small/20248744v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (39K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@15d8cc7org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@c57729org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1246feorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1f2e760_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG
