Bengaluru’s Precision Health initiative, a wastewater surveillance programme to catch early signs of a disease outbreak, has completed a year.
The programme was launched on May 27, 2021, and had been successful in detecting early symptoms of the third wave of the Covid pandemic.
Speaking at the event organised in the city to celebrate the one year of surveillance, BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath emphasised the importance of keeping the surveillance system up and running not just for Covid-19 but for other diseases as well.
“If we analyse the pathogens in the sewage, we will be able to predict what could go wrong. These are important tools for us to detect the spread of new diseases,” Girinath said.
Dr Bhaskar Rajakumar, a public health consultant who works with the BBMP Covid war room, said that the surveillance had given the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) an opportunity to start making preparations for the third wave.
Published 17 June 2022, 20:17 IST