ATHENS – A check of sewage in eight Greek cities showed a rise in COVID-19 after epidemiological tests, indicating that the virus is still spreading there as a vaccination campaign has stalled.

Laboratory tests were conducted by the National Network of Sewage Epidemiology for the period from Oct. 11-17, with four cities seeing a drop in the viral load in the human waste factor that is a critical determinant.

The samples collected showed a massive jump of 176 percent in Volos, 50 percent in Alexandroupoli and 30 percent in Larissa while the country’s biggest prefecture of Attica had a 12 percent jump, said Kathimerini.

There were decreases though in the Cretan city of Rethymno, where the load fell 33 percent and 50 percent in Aghios Nikolaos and 68 percent in Iraklio, also on the island, and 12 percent in Greece’s third-largest city of Patras.

Wastewater analysis is believed to give an early warning for upcoming epidemiological trends, the paper noted.