The government will launch a full-scale survey this fiscal year to monitor the presence of the novel coronavirus in sewage.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry aims to quickly identify increases in infections and, through such measures as the detection of variants, strengthen the COVID-19 monitoring system to prepare for future waves of cases.
As the coronavirus can be detected in the feces of infected people, it is said to be possible to determine the infection situation in a particular region or location by checking the virus levels in the sewage system. Specimens do not need to be collected from individual people.
