The entire world is reeling from the effects of the COVID-19 Novel Corona Virus Pandemic Outbreak, which is said to have originated from the Wuhan Province in China. The overall number of people infected by this Virus across the world has crossed 35 lakhs with over 2.5 lakhs people having lost their lives because of it! With scientists and researchers battling against time for an effective cure and a vaccine for this deadly virus, it only continues to spread rapidly. In yet another shocking piece of news, it has now come to light that sewage samples tested from five different sewage treatment plants across Chennai contain genetic material of the COVID-19, in them!

The Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply & Sewerage Board conducted a preliminary study by subjecting samples from 5 sewage treatment plants to the RT-PCR test and they contained viral RNA (Ribo-Nucleic Acid) of the Corona Virus. While cross-checking these samples with the identified COVID positive cases from the same regions, it was found that 2 of the samples were from regions which had known COVID-19 cases. Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) had revealed that the COVID virus could be excreted from an infected human's body through their faeces and this could be the reason behind the samples testing positive for COVID-19 RNA! However, there has been no evidence that the Virus could spread because of this but as a precautionary measure, the waste water has to be managed carefully!