Estonia is the first Baltic country to announce it is advancing trail-blazing tests to detect the coronavirus (COVID-19) virus in sewage at the earliest possible stage and in a precisely localised manner. 

The Estonian government said on July 16 it has endorsed a proposal of the University of Tartu to launch a monitoring system for COVID-19 based on wastewater analysis.

Minister of Education and Research Mailis Reps said that even though the virus has receded in Estonia, there is a risk of a new outbreak occurring in the autumn, spokespeople for the government said.

The experience of other countries shows that it's possible to find traces of the virus in wastewater samples before the first clinical patients are diagnosed. Monitoring of wastewater also provides information about regional spread of the infection.

Wastewater samples for testing are to be taken in Estonia in all county centres and a few other major towns and cities, as well as at Tallinn Airport and the passenger port, at border checkpoints, etc. In the collection of samples, the University of Tartu will work with the Estonian Environmental Research Center and regional water service companies. 

The monitoring survey to be conducted from August to December this year costs €868,000.

Estonia and Latvia said in late May they were among the first countries to launch smartphone apps tracing coronavirus infections based on code developed by US tech giants Apple and Google.

Using smartphones to help trace coronavirus infections is considered one of the ways to curb the spread of the pandemic. Tracings apps are hoped to allow identification and fast isolating of people suspected of carrying the virus and testing those who might have been in contact with them.

An important issue in tracing the infections is also setting a standard for the apps so that they could work across borders. Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems have all but monopolised smartphones globally.

Among other countries reported to be early adopters of the Apple/Google standard for the tracing app were Germany and Switzerland.