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As wastewater testing at Toronto Pearson airport expands, it becomes more challenging: researcher
Read more: N.B. company helps study wastewater for COVID-19, mpox at Toronto Pearson airport Read next: Part of the Sun breaks free and forms a strange vortex, baffling scientists He says there are now more than two dozen subvariants of the virus being located in the wastewater.“In recent months, it’s become increasingly difficult to detect new variants in wastewater, because at any given time, we are finding evidence of 20 or 25 subvariants,” he stated in a release from the school.The researchers don’t actually test for subvariants but are looking for mutations of subvariants such as the “Kraken” XBB.1.5 through genomic sequencing.In addition, a few weeks ago, the Public Health Agency of Canada announced that the project was expanding to conduct separate testing of the wastewater from flights arriving from China and Hong Kong.What makes it tough is attempting to find the specific new variants of concern as they wade through all of the different subvariants.“If you think about it as a puzzle, it used to be just a 10-piece puzzle.