Director-General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr. Shekhar C Mande gave a presentation to Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on sewage and air surveillance system to detect Covid-19.  Dr. Mande also briefed the Vice President about the activities undertaken by various laboratories of CSIR.<br />'' <br />''The CSIR DG informed that sewage surveillance provides qualitative as well as quantitative estimate of the number of people infected in a population and could be used to understand the progression of COVID-19 even when mass scales tests for individuals are not possible. It is a measure to comprehensively monitor the prevalence of the disease in communities in real time.<br />''<br />''Elaborating on the relevance of sewage surveillance, Dr. Mande pointed out that COVID-19 patients shed SAR-CoV- 2 in stools.<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">Dr. Mande said that sewage surveillance of COVID-19 would be relevant not only to understand the present epidemiology of the disease but would be an indispensable tool for early and easier detection of future COVID-19 outbreaks. He also suggested setting up air sampling system to monitor viral particles and potential infectivity threat.</span><br />