SINGAPORE: At the top of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, Singapore began testing wastewater to track the spread of the disease, mirroring work by different countries.
The study done by a Dutch researcher was essentially responsible for the success of such a process. pathologist, whose studies on waste revolutionised the manner COVID-19 occurrences were detected.
For that, Professor Gertjan Medema was awarded this month’s Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize, which honours individuals or groups for their achievements to solving the world’s liquid issues.
Prof. Medema’s research in the field of wastewater-based disease demonstrated that tracking wastewater for COVID-19 traces could be used as a first-line system of outbreak prevention even before cases are identified in a community.
This made it possible to implement plans and public health initiatives that helped millions of people all over the world.
The organizers of Singapore International Water Week released a press release on Tuesday ( Apr 16 ) recognizing Prof. Medema’s innovative use of wastewater as a tool for monitoring trends in COVID-19 circulation in our communities.
The event, now in its 10th release, is held after every two years, gathering officials and experts to address environment problems in cities.
As COVID-19 emerged in early 2020, Prof Medema, a principal scientist at the Netherlands ’ KWR Water Research Institute, and his team were the first to detect the presence of the Sars-CoV-2 disease in waste in the Netherlands , even before some places ‘ official reporting of diseases.
He immediately changed his team’s analysis to emphasize the importance of early detection of COVID-19 and recognized the need to stop the coronavirus from spreading through waste surveillance.
His first release on the subject, which received more than 1,400 quotations and more than 34,000 views between 2020 and 2023, quickly garnered global attention for his pioneering study on wastewater-based epidemiology as a device for public health surveillance.
In comparison to other monitoring techniques like nasal swabs, waste testing proved to be a cost-effective and non-invasive method for tracking the spread of COVID-19. Especially important is it in areas where asymptomatic transmission is a concern or where access to clinical testing is constrained.
The technique has since been adopted worldwide, with more than 4,000 places in 72 states, including Singapore, adopting waste surveillance of COVID-19. About 30 % of those programs are directly connected to Professor Medema himself.
The Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize is “a acknowledgment of the hard work of many people in the water market worldwide, collecting COVID-19 data from wastewater to support our society’s reaction to the pandemic”, said the 62-year-old Prof Medema.
This makes the links between the health and liquid sectors tighter.