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The expert group COVIDActionCollab (CAC), ideated by social enterprise platform Catalyst Group, aims to explore a more feasible and efficient way to test for presence of COVID-19 in the communities.
“COVID-19 isn’t going away anytime soon. Before we move into another lockdown, it is imperative that we have continued community monitoring especially in densely populated areas to serve as an early warning system,” Catalyst Group Health Strategy Partner Angela Chaudhuri said in a statement.
COVID-19 patients shed the virus through their stools and urine. Sensitive laboratory tests can detect traces of coronavirus in sewage even with high levels of dilution, Catalyst Group said.
The experts are developing a method of collecting and testing samples in a way that helps identify localities where traces are found, that can help authorities to identify these areas, it said.
By mapping collection areas, it will be possible to narrow down where people infected with the virus live and follow it up with identification through clinical tests, quarantine and treatment measures, Chaudhuri added.
According to the group, CAC is developing a cutting-edge sewage testing method for COVID-19 in selected densely-populated urban residential areas of Kolkata and Bangalore. It will also extend testing to factory clusters in these neighborhoods, it said in a statement said.
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