In the samples of sewage of Barcelona, taken in March 2019, discovered coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, writes La Vanguardia, citing a resource medRxiv, which published the preliminary results of the research.
Analysis of samples of wastewater were taken 12 March 2019 year at the wastewater treatment plant of El Prat de Llobregat. They found the genetic material of the virus causing the disease COVID-19, RT reports the text of the article of the Spanish edition.
These data indicate the earliest date of detection of coronavirus, but they must be verified by the scientific community.
Until the earliest date of detection of coronavirus were considered to be November 2019 – it was discovered in samples of wastewater in Italy.
Barcelona’s discovery suggests that the virus is quietly circulating for the last few months before the epidemic in Wuhan. Professor of Microbiology from the University of Barcelona Rosa Pinto notes that the virus unlikely originated in Wuhan, but the pandemic started from there.
Taking into account that the remnants of the virus found in the samples at wastewater treatment plants, during the first appearance of the coronavirus in Barcelona, he was struck by a fairly large number of people. However, the virus is not rooted in samples of sewage from September to December 2019 no trace of him was gone. It again footprints were found only in samples taken after January 15, 2020. Then the amount of virus in wastewater from treatment plants in El Prat de Llobregat is constantly growing, and so continued until the beginning of April.
May 18, signs of coronavirus in sewage treatment plants to detect has failed.
Earlier, the Polish and British scientists tested the coronavirus on survival in rivers and lakes and came to the conclusion that the virus may retain its activity under these conditions for 25 days.
