Abstract<p>In the current COVID-19 pandemic, a significant proportion of cases shed SARS-Coronavirus2 (SARS-CoV-2) with their faeces. To determine if SARS-CoV-2 is present in sewage during the
emergence of COVID-19 in the Netherlands, sewage samples of 7 cities and the airport were
tested using RT-PCR against three fragments of the nucleocapsid protein gene (N1-3) and
one fragment of the envelope protein gene (E). No SARS-CoV-2 was detected in samples of
February 6, three weeks before the first case was reported in the Netherlands on February
27. On March 5, the N1 fragment was detected in sewage of five sites. On March 15/16, the
N1 fragment was detected in sewage of six sites, and the N3 and E fragment were detected
at 5 and 4 sites respectively. This is the first report of detection of SARS-CoV-2 in sewage.<p>The detection of the virus in sewage, even when the COVID-19 prevalence is low, indicates
that sewage surveillance could be a sensitive tool to monitor the circulation of the virus in the population.