The Gujarat government ordered the full-scale mobilisation of wastewater surveillance on Monday in order to search for genomic remnants of the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus in the sewage of the state’s major cities.

All eight of Gujarat’s municipal corporations such as Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Jamnagar, Junagadh, and Bhavnagar have requested that researchers in Gandhinagar increase their wastewater surveillance.

Earlier, just Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar were under surveillance. At a conference on December 23, 2022, specialists in infectious illnesses and scientists from the Gujarat Covid-19 Task Force advised CM Bhupendra Patel to increase wastewater surveillance.

A review of the eight municipal corporations’ sewage treatment plants (STPs) is currently being conducted. The government will later decide how to conduct the survey on a regular basis and where to take samples from.

The Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) will receive the samples for genomic sequencing. An official stated that INSACOG advises taking samples at least twice a week. Earlier, a slight increase in dead virus residue in December 2022 put authorities on high alert, but things now seem to be under control.

On Monday, Gujarat reported two cases of COVID, one in each of the cities of Ahmedabad and Anand.

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