Analyses of the waste water has not detected the presence of COVID-19 in Alcala-Alcossebre
Alcala-Alcossebre Council and FACSA are signing an agreement for cooperation to analyse the for the presence of COVID-19 genetic material in the town’s network
Alcala de Xivert-Alcossebre Council and the FACSA company have formalised a cooperation agreement aiming to analyse for the presence of genetic material for SARS-CoV-2 in the waste water from the municipality. The cooperation is part of the COVID WATER Project which the Grupo Gimeno company has set up in different municipalities in the province. In fact, the company started about one month ago to monitor the town’s waste water and, at present, has detected no indication of the virus in it.
The information obtained from the detection of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material enables an early warning to be generated in those nearby municipalities about the possible presence of people infected by the virus, whether they present symptoms or not. With the control of the presence of a viral content in the waste waters, the council and the company will carry out a follow-up and, in this way, it can work as a preventive measure to avoid future outbreaks.
The Mayor Francisco Juan emphasised that “there is no financial cost involved in this agreement for the Council and the measurements which have already been taken over some weeks have detected no COVID-19 indices, which confirms the municipality as one in which there has been little incidence of COVID-19” and he took the opportunity to “urge all his residents and visitor to respect the advice, which is very basic and very easy: mask, safe, hygienic distance and if everyone of us follows this we are signing up to a safe life for our people”. Regarding the preventive measures against COVID-19, the Mayor reminded that “from the beginning we have put all the measures within our reach to fight against the virus and that, within the preventive measures, we are intensifying the disinfection of public spaces and municipal buildings. Indeed now, the beaches’ infrastructures such as showers and walkways, are being disinfected three times a day”.
Luis Basiero, the company’s representative, said that “this system, based on artificial intelligence has enabled us to learn that the waste waters are not a vector for the transmission of coronavirus and that, in the event of it being present, the sewage plants are eliminating any type of genetic content”.
Alcala de Xivert-Alcossebre Council and the FACSA company have formalised a cooperation agreement aiming to analyse for the presence of genetic material for SARS-CoV-2 in the waste water from the municipality. The cooperation is part of the COVID WATER Project which the Grupo Gimeno company has set up in different municipalities in the province. In fact, the company started about one month ago to monitor the town’s waste water and, at present, has detected no indication of the virus in it.
The information obtained from the detection of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material enables an early warning to be generated in those nearby municipalities about the possible presence of people infected by the virus, whether they present symptoms or not. With the control of the presence of a viral content in the waste waters, the council and the company will carry out a follow-up and, in this way, it can work as a preventive measure to avoid future outbreaks.
The Mayor Francisco Juan emphasised that “there is no financial cost involved in this agreement for the Council and the measurements which have already been taken over some weeks have detected no COVID-19 indices, which confirms the municipality as one in which there has been little incidence of COVID-19” and he took the opportunity to “urge all his residents and visitor to respect the advice, which is very basic and very easy: mask, safe, hygienic distance and if everyone of us follows this we are signing up to a safe life for our people”. Regarding the preventive measures against COVID-19, the Mayor reminded that “from the beginning we have put all the measures within our reach to fight against the virus and that, within the preventive measures, we are intensifying the disinfection of public spaces and municipal buildings. Indeed now, the beaches’ infrastructures such as showers and walkways, are being disinfected three times a day”.
Luis Basiero, the company’s representative, said that “this system, based on artificial intelligence has enabled us to learn that the waste waters are not a vector for the transmission of coronavirus and that, in the event of it being present, the sewage plants are eliminating any type of genetic content”.
