Belgium will test wastewater from planes arriving from China for new COVID variants as part of new steps to monitor the virus as infections in China surge, the government announced on Monday.
“This will be an additional monitoring objective to verify that the data we receive from China is accurate,” Steven Van Gucht of the Sciensano national public health institute told Reuters.
He said Belgium was aware that some COVID-infected passengers might not use the toilet during their flights, and therefore the new measure was “not meant to track people but to track independently what is happening in China.”
Belgium is also asking travelers from China to test themselves for COVID-19 if they show symptoms seven days after arriving, but will not enforce this measure….