SARS-CoV-2 in human sewage in Santa Catalina, Brazil, November 2019

Abstract

Abstract We analysed human sewage located in Florianópolis (Santa Catalina, Brazil) from late October until the Brazil lockdown on early March. We detected SARS-CoV-2 in two samples collected independently on 27 th November 2019 (5.49±0.02 log genome copies/L). Subsequent samplings were positive until 4 th March 2020 (coinciding with the first COVID-19 case reported in Santa Catalina), with a SARS-CoV-2 RNA increase of one log (6.68±0.02 log genome copies/L). Our results show that SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating in Brazil since late November 2019, much earlier than the first reported case in the Americas (21 st January 2020, USA).