ArticleThe Science of the total environment2022
Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater treatment plants mirrors the pandemic trend in Hong Kong.
Article in The Science of the total environment, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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14 citing papers in PubMed, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cost-Effective Sampling Strategies for Wastewater Surveillance: A Large-Scale Longitudinal Study in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Incidence and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in the municipal wastewaters of the Buffalo City region, Eastern Cape, South Africa.Global epidemiology · 2025Article
- Wastewater-based epidemiology of influenza A virus in Shenzhen: baseline values and implications for multi-pathogen surveillance.Emerging microbes & infections · 2025Article
- Epidemiological dynamics and early warning of norovirus and rotavirus A in Yantai City in 2023-2024 based on wastewater surveillance.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater by quantitative PCR and digital PCR: a case study in Shijiazhuang city, Hebei province, China.Emerging microbes & infections · 2024Article
- Inter-institutional laboratory standardization for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance through wastewater-based epidemiology applied to Mexico City.IJID regions · 2024Article
- Article
- Longitudinal wastewater-based surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 during 2023 in Ethiopia.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- The dynamic relationship between COVID-19 cases and SARS-CoV-2 wastewater concentrations across time and space: Considerations for model training data sets.The Science of the total environment · 2023Article
- Article
- Wastewater-based prediction of COVID-19 cases using a highly sensitive SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection method combined with mathematical modeling.Environment international · 2023Article
- A rapid, high-throughput, and sensitive PEG-precipitation method for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater surveillance.Water research · 2023Article
- Development of quantitative wastewater surveillance models facilitated the precise epidemic management of COVID-19.The Science of the total environment · 2023Article
- Anthropogenic Sewage Water Circuit as Vector for SARS-CoV-2 Viral ARN Transport and Public Health Assessment, Monitoring and Forecasting-Sibiu Metropolitan Area (Transylvania/Romania) Study Case.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has emerged as a cost-effective and unbiased tool for population-level testing in the community. In the present study, we conducted a 6-month wastewater monitoring campaign from three WWTPs of different flow rates and catchment area characteristics, which serve 28 % (2.1 million people) of Hong Kong residents in total. Wastewater samples collected daily or every other day were concentrated using ultracentrifugation and the SARS-CoV-2 virus RNA in the supernatant was detected using the N1 and E primer sets. The results showed significant correlations between the virus concentration and the number of daily new cases in corresponding catchment areas of the three WWTPs when using 7-day moving average values (Kendall's tau-b value: 0.227-0.608, p < 0.001). SARS-CoV-2 virus concentration was normalized to a fecal indicator using PMMoV concentration and daily flow rates, but the normalization did not enhance the correlation. The key factors contributing to the correlation were also evaluated, including the sampling frequency, testing methods, and smoothing days. This study demonstrates the applicability of wastewater surveillance to monitor overall SARS-CoV-2 pandemic dynamics in a densely populated city like Hong Kong, and provides a large-scale longitudinal reference for the establishment of the long-term sentinel surveillance in WWTPs for WBE of pathogens which could be combined into a city-wide public health observatory.
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