Coronavirus: Hungarian Sewage Water Samples

Based on samples taken from wastewater, the number of active coronavirus cases is not expected to increase in the next few weeks, Márta Vargha, senior water hygiene expert at the National Center for Public Health (NNK).

The examination of wastewater started in May, i.e. during the period of the epidemic, first in Budapest and then in all county capitals.

Since then, sewage water has been sampled once a week to infer infectivity from the amount of coronavirus hereditary material, the expert is quoted by the Hungarian news agency by MTI.

According to international experience, if samples taken from wastewater indicate an increase, this is followed by an increase in the number of active cases in 4-10 days, possibly two weeks. Although professionals around the world share the results of their own measurements, sewage water in neighboring countries is not monitored, thus, there is no data.