Study identifies 108 SARS-Cov2 mutations in wastewater samples

India faced the deadly second wave of coronavirus infections between March and June this year. Indian SARS-Cov-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG), a dedicated team working on tracking SARS-Cov-2 variants and mutations, had noticed the presence of a new variant, that later came to be called the Delta, from samples collected from Vidarbha region of Maharashtra as early as October – November 2020. The

B.1.617.1 variant was highly dominant in Maharashtra during the second wave.

This joint study led by scientists at CSIR -National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), along with the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, Ghaziabad, and Ecosan Services Foundation, Pune, has concluded that all wastewater samples collected in these five months were consistently positive for SARS-Cov-2.

The samples for the study, published late last week in the journal Science of the Total Environment of Science Direct, were collected from an open wastewater drain near Deccan (Prabhat Road basin), entering Mutha river.

“In all, 108 mutations were detected. Notably, the samples collected in March this year showed presence of L452R and E484Q mutations which were absent among earlier samples in December 2020,” the researchers stated.

Even as the world continues its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic for over 1.5 years now, NCL scientists have suggested the adoption of wastewater-based epidemiological approach in order to obtain and understand a comparative infection dynamics for a particular region, as it can help figure out the severity of the infections in an affected region.

“It can be concluded that wastewater can act as an early warning system and regular water monitoring can be a critical resource and become essential criteria for the study of variants in circulation,” the researchers said.