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South African scientists monitoring sewage in the Western Cape province have spotted spikes of the coronavirus in the past three weeks as concern mounts among the government that a lack of compliance with health guidelines could trigger a second wave.
The project, spearheaded by a team of experts within the South African Medical Research Council, monitored 24 sewage sites in Cape Town and began at the peak of the outbreak in the city in July.
The most comprehensive wastewater study to date, the six-week project now continues at 10 sites and has expanded to three other provinces, including Gauteng, the commercial center of the country.
“We are definitely seeing an increase in the numbers,” Rabia Johnson, deputy director of the Biomedical Research and Innovation Platform, a unit of the council, said in an interview. “Our data indicate that the virus is still present,” he said.
South Africa relaxed most movement restrictions on October 1 after a strict blockade imposed in March.
With the reopening of bars and restaurants across the country and the start of the summer season, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize warned last month that he is seeing a worrying rise in infections, especially in the Western Cape province.
Wastewater surveillance is one of the few strategies being developed around the world to identify emerging hotspots and outbreaks before cases spiral out of control, serving as an early warning of the resurgence of Covid- 19 in the cities.
The South African Medical Research Council will make the data available to the public and health authorities through a panel on its website that shows weekly trends for different provinces, according to Johnson. The board will launch this month, he said.
South Africa had 732,414 confirmed cases as of Nov. 6 and 19,677 deaths, the highest number in Africa.
Read: What Mkhize wants you to know about a second wave of Covid-19 in South Africa
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