PROJECT DETAILS


  • Project No 2068
  • Project Name ColoSSoS | Mekong
  • Lead Organisation Water Research Australia
  • Research Lead AWQC
  • Main Researcher Paul Monis
  • Completion Year 2021

Project Description

This project formed the Mekong node of the Collaboration on Sewage Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 “ColoSSoS” project after Water Research Australia and the Australian Water Association identified that technology transfer within Australia’s broader region was a logical extension of the local project.

This project transferred leading Australian innovation in the environmental surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 to support the Governments of five countries in the Mekong River Delta (including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand) to prepare, respond and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. It established partnerships between Australia and these five countries and transferred SARS-CoV-2 environmental surveillance methods established in Australia by WaterRA and partners. The transfer of these methods has supported each Government’s efforts to monitor SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in water environments (primarily sewage and stormwater), to inform COVID-19 control strategies of the Governments and add to their COVID-19 resilience toolbox. Through developing the set-up for potential cost-effective earlier warning detection systems for COVID-19 outbreaks in each country, the project has supported the long-term strengthening of health security, systems, stability, social cohesion and economic recovery across the Mekong region.