Newly-found traces of coronavirus in Queensland wastewater have renewed fears there are undiagnosed cases in the community.
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service on Wednesday night alerted residents in 17 suburbs to the find.
It said fragments of the virus were found in a sample taken from the Cairns North Wastewater Treatment Plant last week.
The plant receives samples from 17 suburbs, including Cairns City, Freshwater and Portsmith.
It also encompasses hotels serving as quarantine facilities for returned travellers and Cairns Hospital.
The health body is urging vigilance for symptoms of COVID-19 but says the find doesn’t necessary indicate anything out of the ordinary.
“These surveillance tests are extremely sensitive and can pick up tiny pieces of the genetic material of the virus,” it said.
“The result does not necessarily mean there are active cases in the Cairns region and there are no known outbreaks or infectious cases in the area currently.
“However, we cannot rule out the possibility that infectious persons were, or are still, in the area. People who have recovered from COVID-19 can have live or dead virus in their stool for weeks after recovery.”
Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 should seek testing for the virus, regardless of how mild they are.
The suburbs that contribute to the wastewater treatment plant are: Aeroglen, Barron, Brinsmead, Cairns City, Cairns North, Edge Hill, Freshwater, Holloways Beach, Kamerunga, Machans Beach, Manoora, Manunda, Parramatta Park, Portsmith, Redlynch, Stratford and Whitfield.
Queensland on Wednesday reported its 71st consecutive day without a locally transmitted case of COVID-19.
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2020-11-25 08:30:00Z
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