Background

When the subsidy was approved in 2020, little was known about the COVID-19 virus. During the course of 2021 and throughout the project timeline, more information became available regarding the virus. As such, it was necessary to gradually adjust the overarching research scope (described in the Scope section) over time. During the course of our research we formulated and evaluated various research questions to add the most value to the project. The research questions, and the simultaneous development and operation of various dashboards in South Africa, the Netherlands and around the world, have made the focus of this activity shift; the visualisation of the data became less important. However, the upscaling and extension of sewage surveillance through digital technologies has become even more vital within the current, and future outbreak, as a means to monitor the spread of the virus, especially when used as an early-warning and predicitive learning tool.

This project ran from 1 January 2021 until 31 March 2022.