The COVID-19 pandemic has had a global impact. No country has been immune to its effects from an economic perspective, or with regard to healthcare, legislation or business operation.

While some countries have been profoundly impacted, Australia has emerged relatively unscathed. Until recently, Australia has been in a unique position of having relatively low case numbers, and this has positioned the country to drive the testing of various wastewater detection methods for COVID-19 throughout the pandemic. Work has continuously been carried out to develop and refine wastewater testing as a public health reporting tool, with many lessons learned along the way which can now be shared with the global water industry.