Earlier research on the SARS epidemic of 2003 reported that the outbreak had a possible connection to both water and wastewater, which linked several people to a faulty sewage system.
According to a paper published in 2003, SARS-CoV can replicate in the enteric tract, making it a concern of potential environmental transmission. As per the data published on the website of WHO, common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, tiredness, dry cough and some patients may suffer from aches, pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat or diarrhoea. The paper published by Leung et al. in the year 2003 documented that viral cultures were recovered in higher yields from the small intestine of SARS patients and isolated infectious virus cultures from the stools up to 3 weeks post-infection. Additionally, there are several reports on the survival of human coronavirus in water and wastewater.
Studies on coronavirus showed that temperature, organic matter, and antagonistic bacteria seem to play a key role in the virus's inactivation and are inactivated faster in the water at 23°C than in water at 4°C. However, the inactivation is much faster in wastewater, which is 2 to 4 days.
Coming to the environmental transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which needs further assessment and information on its survival in water and wastewater. Several research groups worldwide have already started working on it and found traces of the virus in the Netherlands, the United States and Sweden.
So far, India has been successful in suppressing the current pandemic by implementing infectious diseases control measures, such as social distancing, but what it might be missing out from is the surveillance of wastewater. The country has recently seen a peak in the number of COVID-19 cases and there are possibilities that the virus could emerge back when such measures like social distancing are heaved. The fact that SARS-CoV-2 can appear in faeces within three days of infection, India must take an extra precautionary measure of wastewater monitoring to contain the disease.
Earlier on March 27, 2020, Andrew Wheeler, EPA Administrator sent a letter to Governors, and Washington, DC, to take measures on water and wastewater workers and has provided a template that state, localities and water utilities can use to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Recently, a team of researcher from Cranfield University in the UK developed a paper device that may cost less than $2 for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. The paper-based device is preloaded with reagents and is based on a biochemical reaction which can detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material. A green circle shows positive while a blue circle indicates negative. Looking at the current state of mayhem that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing, this device could be a boon for developing countries to detect SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater on-site, which may aid in tracking the virus and its carriers in the community.