Omicron suspected of sewage treatment plant in Modling – NÖN.at

During a press conference with Health Minister Wolfgang Mocstein, the Greens, he mentioned, among other things, the “intensive monitoring” of sewage at about 100 sewage treatment plants. All tests were negative, except for one: at the wastewater treatment plant in Mödling, the signal value of the Omikron variant was exceeded at the end of November.

In addition to the municipality of Mödling, the catchment area of ​​the Mödling wastewater treatment plant includes the municipalities of Brunn am Gebirge, Maria Enzersdorf, Wiener Neudorf, Hinterbrühl, Gaaden, Wienerwald, Gießhübl and Biedermannsdorf, with up to 10 billion liters of wastewater reaching the station Sewage treatment every year.

Friedrich Bane, SPÖ, city councilor politically responsible for wastewater management, explained in the NÖN conversation: Two sewer lines – one from the Gaaden district, the other from Brunn am Gebirge – arrive at the Mödling sewage treatment plant in Wiener Neudorf, where they are merge them. This is where the measurements are made. Now every day.

The measurements are “representative, 24-hour mixed samples for flow to wastewater treatment plants,” explains Norbert Kreuzinger of the Institute for Water Quality and Resource Management at the Vienna University of Technology in response to a request from NÖN: “Part of this sample is sent to SARS-CoV by Courier Service -2 analysis brought to the laboratory, where samples from other systems are also processed and then analyzed. ” The genetic material isolated in the laboratory is also sent to the Medical University (variable screening) and CeMM (sequencing). “As with human samples, a statement about the discovery of a particular variant is only made after sequencing results from CeMM are available. This was the case at Mödling,” Krezinger confirms.

County Captain Philip Enzinger considers these wastewater tests “extremely important in order to be able to develop a comprehensive strategy.” As soon as a specific case in Omikron is reported to the crisis team of the Mödling District Authority, individual actions begin to take effect. They are currently planning a 14-day quarantine without testing; This also applies to all contacts listed only as K1.

As of Wednesday evening, there was no officially confirmed Omicron case in the area.