Evaluation of the Public Health Utility of Wastewater-based Surveillance for Monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in Scotland

Abstract

Public Health Scotland (PHS), in partnership with Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS) and the University of Edinburgh (UoE), undertook an evaluation to formally assess the public health utility of wastewater-based surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in Scotland.

The report describes the approach, findings and conclusion, most notably that the Wastewater Monitoring Programme in Scotland has value in supporting three key epidemiological goals: (i) the description of broad temporal trends and geographic spread of COVID-19, (ii) the timely identification of new COVID-19 growth periods, and (iii) determination of predominant SARS-CoV-2 variants. It is therefore recommended that COVID-19 wastewater monitoring activities continue, with periodic review to ensure they address the evolving public health need for COVID-19 and wider infectious respiratory disease surveillance. Caution is required, however, in the application of the system for informing immediate public health action, particularly when applied to smaller geographic areas. A number of recommendations are made for future improvements to ensure the reliability and validity of the system in Scotland.

Rights

© Public Health Scotland 2024

This publication is licenced for re-use under the Open Government Licence v3.0. For more information visit publichealthscotland.scot/ogl

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Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.52487/172756

Repository URI

https://publichealthscotland.scot/id/172756