NSW Health and Sydney Water’s world-first sewage surveillance program, which proved a vital tool in efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19, has won the Agencies a key award for their contribution and global significance.
The prize-winning program detects molecular markers of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in sewage.
NSW Health said that following the program’s implementation in July last year, it had been replicated in other States and was highly respected worldwide.
“At the NSW Water Awards on Friday 26 February, the surveillance program was awarded the Research and Development Excellence Award,” NSW Health said.
“The award recognises projects that positively contribute to the better use of water resources, or builds upon the knowledge of water technology, environment, sociology, economics or its culture aspects,” it said.
Director of Health Protection at NSW Health, Richard Broome said the sewage testing program provided a crucial additional point of surveillance at a population level.
“The program had detected results from sewage that aligned closely with known cases of COVID-19, giving confidence in its reliability and sensitivity,” Dr Broome said.
“On several occasions, the program had provided an extra signal indicating the possibility of positive cases in a community, which had also proved helpful in encouraging local populations to get tested – assisting another key goal of public health efforts,” he said.
“The work being done by both the NSW Health Water Unit and Sydney Water cannot be understated – it’s been a key element of our response to the global pandemic.”
Dr Broome said that despite several weeks of no locally acquired cases, COVID-19 remained a threat and the surveillance program could provide an early warning in places without recent known cases.
