Archive · 13 Aug 2025
Wastewater Surveillance Expands to 50 Cities to Track Diseases
Imagine doctors can check the water from your toilets to find out what diseases are spreading.
Right now, they check for things like polio and COVID-19.
Soon, they will check for more illnesses in 50 cities.
This helps them spot problems early and see how drugs are working.
They can also find out which germs are causing trouble.
If they don't know, they can look at the germs' genes.
This water checking was good at finding COVID-19 before people got sick.
Wastewater surveillance will expand to 50 cities to monitor pathogens like fever and diarrhea.
This expansion aims to detect outbreaks early and identify unusual public health patterns.
Surveillance will track antimicrobial resistance in the community, not just hospitals.
The ICMR's network of labs will conduct the enhanced surveillance, supplementing patient samples.
Wastewater surveillance previously detected COVID-19 outbreaks before clinical diagnosis.
- Who
- The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
- What
- Expansion of wastewater surveillance to monitor pathogens and antimicrobial resistance.
- When
- Over the next six months.
- Where
- Across 50 cities in India.
- Why
- To detect potential outbreaks early and understand disease patterns.
- Cities Covered
- 50
- Pathogens Monitored
- 10
- Focus
- Early outbreak detection
- Surveillance Method
- Wastewater analysis
- Organization
- ICMR
- Samples Tested Per Week
- 1,500