Countries ponder wider wastewater testing amid hope airports offer China COVID-19 clues

An international meeting this week will discuss setting up a global system of wastewater monitoring for COVID-19, including at airports, after several countries said they would start tests on flights coming from China, Qazet.az reports.

Countries including the United States and Australia have moved to set up wastewater testing on flights and in airports amid a surge of cases in China. The European Union also recommends a similar measure and has drawn up guidelines for member states.

Numerous studies have shown that such testing has been effective for tracking COVID-19 during the course of the pandemic, particularly when combined with genomic sequencing techniques to identify emerging variants.

One expert said the measure was useful when countries either will not, or lack the capacity to provide information on the circulating variants causing surges in COVID-19 cases in their territories.