Wastewater shows the peak of this wave has passed

SAMPLES of wastewater in Valencia have shown a decline in the viral load of coronavirus in the city over the past three weeks.
The samples have also shown that the majority of infection is from the omicron variant and that the highest numbers are in the Poblado Marítimos area to the north of the city,

City councillor for the Integral Water Cycle, Elisa Valía, explained that the levels were similar to February 2021 and they show “a downward trend and we can predict that, in two weeks, in Valencia we will reach the bottom of the curve showing the evolution of the pandemic.”

Samples are taken each week from different points across the city using a tool designed by GOanalytics, developed by Valencian-based company, Global Omnium and the CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicos). Throughout the pandemic scientists have been able to predict where covid hotspots will appear in the following weeks by monitoring wastewater.

Presenting the results from 19 January, Valía said: “With these data, which provide us with additional information on the situation of the pandemic in the city and its development, we can confirm that since the end of December there has been a pronounced decrease in traces of coronavirus found in Valencia’s wastewater.”

Valía specified that the peak of the curve dates from the last week of December, when there were 665 million genomic units (the measure used to show the concentration of the virus in waste water) of covid per litre. While in the most recent sample there were 148 million units of the virus per litre detected in the city as a whole, with 30% of this amount concentrated in one district, and in the rest of the city the levels of traces of coronavirus have fallen much more.

She added: “This does not mean that there are fewer people infected, but that the overall burden in the city is lower. In other words, this is good news, but it does not mean that the number of infected people will fall in the same proportion as the concentration of the virus in wastewater falls”.