Health Minister Eatala Rajender had, on Wednesday, claimed that there was no community transmission in the State, going by the results of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) sero-surveillance survey conducted in three districts and in the twin cities, because of “effective lockdown and containment measures”.
Four cases in rural TS
Director of Public Health G. Srinivasa Rao also tweeted that the “Sero Prevalence survey by ICMR showed four positive cases out of 1,200 samples in rural areas and 15 positive cases out of 500 samples in GHMC”.
Random blood samples
ICMR-NIN teams with medical and health department and local officials had carried out the rapid survey in three districts of Jangoan, Kamareddy and Nalgonda, from May 15-17, when they collected random blood samples, as part of the countrywide exercise in 69 districts to check for community transmission among general population.
A similar exercise was repeated in five randomly selected containment areas of Hyderabad; Adibatla, Balapur, Tappachabutra, Miyapur and Chandanagar, on May 30 and 31, where about 100 samples from each cluster was collected from individuals in comparison to the 400 samples collected in the three districts mentioned above. The director also projected a table indicating the results that buttressed the claim that there has been no community transmission.
Hyderabad was part of the exercise as it was among the 13 hotspots identified from 21 states.
However, ICMR-NIN sources claimed that the survey results conducted were yet to be received and they were expecting it within a day or two.
Harshvardhan tweet
Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Harshvardhan tweeted that he had called up Mr. Rajender here for an ‘update’ on COVID-19 and was categorical in stating that Hyderabad continues to be the epicentre with adjacent districts majorly affected. No district is free of coronavirus, he pointed out
It is pertinent to note that ICMR-NIN director R. Hemalatha was categorical in stating that “surveillance of antibody based sero-positivity indicates the extent of spread of infection and on role of asymptomatic and mild infections in transmission. It is, however, only the first phase of the study to serve as a baseline”.
“The ICMR proposes to carry out four more rounds of surveys in the coming months at different times in the same rural and urban clusters. Subsequent rounds will help us monitor the trends of infection and study findings will be useful to guide in designing and implementing appropriate public health preventive measures,” she added.