COVID-19 virus found in November sewage water samples in Brazil
12:16, 03-Jul-2020
An analysis of sewage water samples from last November in Florianopolis, the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil was found to contain traces of the novel coronavirus, a research group from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) of Brazil announced Thursday.
The finding is two months earlier than the first official confirmed case of COVID-19 in the Americas on January 21, and much earlier than the first reported case in Brazil at the end of February.
"We detected SARS-CoV-2 in two samples collected independently on [the] 27th [of] November 2019," according to the report published by 14 researchers of UFSC. "Our results show that SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating in Brazil since late November 2019, much earlier than the first reported case in the Americas."
The research team collected urban sewage samples in Florianopolis, Santa Catalina, in six independent sampling events since October 30 until March 4.
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https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-07-03/COVID-19-virus-found-in-November-sewage-water-samples-in-Brazil-RORhEVcqYw/index.html