Covid-19: Sero survey in Odisha's Puri on Saturday

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha will begin serological survey for Covid-19 with rapid antibody tests in Puri on Saturday, additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said.
“We chose Puri in view of the ongoing Rath Yatra. The Regional Medical Research Centre will undertake the survey as per IMCR guidlines,” Mohapatra said.
Government sources said the serological survey, which is meant to map the level of spread of the virus and figure out if there is community transmission, will be over and above the plan to test servitors and police personnel participating in Rath Yatra using the RT PCR method. Though the Rath Yatra was held under curfew, social distancing may have been compromised as over-enthusiastic devotees gathered in narrow bylanes of Puri.
In the first week of July, the serological survey will be done in Ganjam, Gajapati, Bhubaneswar and Badama-Narasinghpur area of Cuttack where significant local cases are being reported.
RMRC director Sanghamitra Pati said sample population for the sero-survey will be drawn as per ICMR guidelines. They would include frontline workers besides some members of the community picked at random. The number of samples to be collected and the specific areas will be decided by Friday, she said.
The government has also placed orders for 50,000 antigen test kits, which will be used as a complementary testing strategy in hospitals and containment zones. “The antigen test kits will be used as and when we get these from ICMR, which has ordered 20 lakh such kits for the country. We will also separately place orders for the same with the manufacturers,” the additional chief secretary (health) said.