ICMR sero-survey from tomorrow

LUDHIANA: A 14-member ICMR team will be collecting 400 blood samples from people living in 10 clusters in Ludhiana district under the ‘Community Transmission Surveillance Programme’, or sero survey, and would conduct rapid antibody tests to find out prevalence of Covid-19. The team will arrive on Monday and kick off the process a day later.
Ludhiana district has reported 179 positive cases, including seven deaths. The district has been chosen as most of the cases had unknown source of infection.
The survey has been completed in Patiala, Jalandhar, Gurdaspur and a part of Pathankot.
Spokesperson of state health department for Covid-19 Dr Rajesh Bhaskar said, “Now, 400 samples from each district will be sent to the Chennai-based National Institute for Research to monitor trends of the Covid-19 in community transmission. The blood samples will be tested through rapid antibody test kits and ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test kits, developed by the National Institute of Virology, Pune.”
Nodal officer for ICMR survey in state Vishal Chopra from department of pulmonary medicine at Government Medical College, Patiala, would be leading the survey.