IRVINE, Calif., May 11. /PRNewswire/ Zymo Research has released the VirSieve ™ Bioinformatics Pipeline source code to the environmental microbiology community to promote global collaboration and support for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants in wastewater. VirSieve ™ is an automated computational pipeline that analyzes sequencing reads from the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater samples to better understand viral variants present in monitored communities. By rating the confidence interval in observed viral mutations, the software has the potential to significantly increase the accuracy of analyzing any changes in the viral genetic material. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while the deployment of vaccines has had a tremendous positive impact on curbing the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic within the USA, new viral strains are still emerging. Some of these strains, e.g., B.1.1.7, are classified as "variants of concern" due to evidence of increased spread, pathogenicity, or vaccine evasion. Wastewater Next-Gen Sequencing is emerging as the most viable solution for near real-time community surveillance.