“…Furthermore, the majority of the wastewater workers do not use adequate protective equipment during different stages of wastewater/sludge treatment and disposal while having direct contact or exposure to raw sludge and biosolids samples, especially in rural settings ( Sampson et al, 2017 , Gwenzi, 2021 ). Sludge treatment processes such as oxidation ditch, dewatering, and mechanical agitation have also been reported to generate toxic aerosol containing SARS-CoV-2 in the form of airborne particulate matter ( Yang et al, 2020 , Brisolara et al, 2021 , Dada and Gyawali, 2021 , Gholipour et al, 2021 ), which could remain viable and infectious for several hours in such an environmental medium ( Fears et al, 2020 , van Doremalen et al, 2020 , Kareem et al, 2021 ). Meanwhile, the guidelines or regulations for the reuse of wastewater and sewage sludge are lacking in many developing and less developed countries, prompting to high vulnerability of viral infections, especially the recalcitrant SARS-CoV-2 variants in these settings ( Adelodun et al, 2021b ).…”