Wastewater surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 has proven effective in supporting COVID control efforts globally, allowing detection of novel infection clusters, supporting assessment of community transmission risk, and providing an important reminder to the public to remain vigilant in adhering to social distancing and other public health policies. Surveillance is achieved through the application of highly sensitive molecular diagnostic tools. In such applications, the diagnostic markers employed for wastewater surveillance can be improved, but more genetic information is needed. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) provides the most conclusive and robust approach to providing more genomic material for analysis.

This project addresses a recent priority research call from WaterRA for programs to extend capacity for wastewater testing for SARS-CoV-2. This includes the evaluation and implementation WGS methods for SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater and seek to overcome current limitations in detection sensitivity that have prevented their use in Australia to date.