Researchers see drop in COVID-19-causing virus in London's wastewater

FILE - This 2020 electron microscope image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - Rocky Mountain Laboratories shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles which cause COVID-19. (NIAID-RML via AP)

A Western University researcher who tracks the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 in City of London wastewater, says a decline has finally been observed.

In a series of tweets, Chris DeGroot, an assistant professor in mechanical engineering and wastewater researcher at Western's Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, says there has been a drop in the quantity of the virus that causes COVID-19.

DeGroot said it is the "first signficant drop in viral load during the Omicron wave" an includes data up until last Thursday.

Additional samples from Sunday are expected to be processed soon in order to confirm that the viral load is trending down.

DeGroot says the load correlates roughly as a measure that combines "a mixture of the number of cases and how infectious they are at the moment."

The team at Western has been tracking the viral load for more than a year.