EU4Environment trains experts from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova to test wastewater for COVID-19

With the support of the ‘EU4Environment – Water and Environmental Data’ project, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova have developed a COVID-19 monitoring concept and conducted pilot analyses in urban wastewater.

In September 2022, the SarsCov-2 virus was analysed for the first time in wastewater samples from Yerevan, Baku, Tbilisi and Chisinau. The sampling, analysis and evaluation concept was developed with the support of the European Union. Experts from the Austrian Environment Agency and the Vienna University of Technology provided guidance on the development of procedures and allowed the first analysis of COVID-19 in wastewater in each of the countries. 

Over the coming months, European experts will help the programme partners in the Eastern Partnership countries to implement the practice on a permanent basis and train them in interpreting the data. In parallel, sampling will be expanded to increase the coverage of COVID-19 monitoring. This will improve pandemic monitoring for overall health protection in each country and even internationally.

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Press release

EU4Environment – Water Resources and Environmental Data