Written answers
Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Department of Health
Covid-19 Pandemic
Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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1652. To ask the Minister for Health what surveillance activity programme is taking place with respect to monitoring wastewater for Covid; the number of treatment plants that are being monitored as part of the health surveillance; if he will publish the latest data available to his Department on Covid concentrations in municipal wastewater schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1147/24]
Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The National SARS-CoV-2 Wastewater Surveillance Programme (NWSP) is a partnership between the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), Uisce éireann (formerly Irish Water), the National Virus Reference Laboratory (NVRL), University College Dublin (UCD) and the HSE Health Intelligence Unit (HIU).
The NWSP aims to complement other case-based surveillance systems which monitor the spread of infectious pathogens of concern in the community. Wastewater samples from 30 catchment areas across the country, covering approximately 70% of the population, are analysed for SARS-CoV-2 to determine the concentration of the virus in wastewater samples. Catchment areas were selected to provide the greatest practicable coverage of the population, and to include different areas of the country. The programme monitors trends in the amount of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. This is an indicator of the level of circulation of COVID-19 in the community.
A comprehensive overview of the programme, including the results of the weekly Surveillance Reports from the Programme, is available on the HPSC website www.hpsc.ie/a-z/nationalwastewatersurveillanceprogramme/.
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