Konya's sewage system shows highest concentration of COVID-19, followed by Istanbul, study finds

Duvar English

Water samples taken from 81 Turkish provinces' sewage systems have revealed that the Central Anatolian province of Konya has so far shown the highest concentration of COVID-19, followed by Istanbul.

“When looked the analysis, we have so far come across SARS-CoV-2 [the virus that causes COVID-19] having the highest concentration in Konya waste water. Istanbul became the second province following Konya,” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bilge Alpaslan Kocamemi, an academic from Istanbul's Marmara University, was quoted as saying by Turkish media outlets on July 10.

Kocamemi said that they were receiving samples from wastewater facilities in Istanbul with the help of Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration (İSKİ) every week and conducting analysis on them. “If there is a increase in the case figures, we think that we can observe this in the samples,” she said.

She said that the concentration of the virus in Istanbul wastewater was quite low in April but increased in May in parallel with the new infections

“In June, the [new infection] cases fell, accompanied with a decrease in concentration [in wastewater],” she said.

Kocamemi said that although the current analysis does not at the time show any presence of COVID-19 in Istanbul's sewage, it does not mean that the virus is not still there.

“That the virus cannot be detected does not mean that it is not there. There is a detection limit of this measurement method. We say that we cannot observe [the virus] if it is below the limit,” she said.

She also said that although Konya and Istanbul were “well ahead” in terms of the concentration of the virus in sewage, they were followed by Bursa, İzmit, İzmir and Antalya's certain regions.