Rising rates identified in waste water
WASTEWATER sampling at sewage plants has identified above-average Covid levels in two parts of North Wales.
Monitoring has been ongoing for more than a year at 20 sewage sites across Wales, covering 80% of the country’s population, to detect coronavirus spikes.
The virus has been found to be present in human waste in almost all confirmed cases of the disease.
In their latest report, scientific experts on the Welsh Government’s Technical Advisory Cell (TAC) said the monitoring programme is producing data that is “broadly comparable” with trends observed by the Office for National Statistics.
They added: “Since mid-July the mean wastewater signal in Wales has steadily increased, in line with positive cases reported by Public Health Wales.
“Some specific sites in both North and South Wales have seen trends above the average during this period.
“Sites of specific concern in the last 14 days are Chester, Bangor, Wrexham and Newport.”
However TAC reported sampling from Treborth, Bangor, has not been consistent due to construction work at the site.
In turn this impacted on the average figures for North Wales in late August.
Covid “signals” in wastewater on Anglesey were also up slightly in Llangefni but stable in Holyhead.
Levels appeared to be dropping slightly at the Ganol monitoring site in Llandudno Junction.
Samples from the Flint and Kinmel Bay sewage sites were not available.
Wastewater data is regarded as “relatively unbiased” as the results do not depend on testing policy and behaviour.
However scientists say the programme, led by Bangor University, is still in a pilot stage and its data cannot be relied upon in isolation.
Meanwhile the TAC has warned that Covid cases are expected to continue rising “for some time”, according to the latest projections.
TAC’s experts warned the disease is “on an exponential, rather than linear, curve”.
The potential for direct harm to people, and indirect harm to NHS services, is “not insignificant”, they said.
The age of hospital patients is rising and more vaccinated people are now needing treatment than those who have not been jabbed.
TAC expects things to get worse before they get better.
Its report said: “This is likely to be driven by the return to work and education of the population, as well as widespread seeding of infection from those who became infected on holiday or at a mass gatherings.
“The apparent flattening in Scotland offers encouragement that schools may be less of a driving factor.
“There is no one reason for the increases currently occurring, but the prevalence, lack of restrictions and communications about relaxation and waning immunity all lead to an expected rise in the epidemic.”