The first survey was undertaken in a total of 65 districts across the country and the ICMR had estimated that around 0.73 percent of the population in these districts had contracted the virus.
The government had collected the samples from a total of 83 districts across the country but only shared the findings from 65 districts.
The Union Health Ministry will undertake the second round of Sero-surveillance tests across the country in order to realise the extent of Coronavirus infection among the population, ANI reported. The first round of sero-survey was conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research in the month of May and the latest survey will not only hint at the extent of infection in the country but provide trends of the spread of the virus in different parts of the country. The first survey was undertaken in a total of 65 districts across the country and the ICMR had estimated that around 0.73 percent of the population in these districts had contracted the virus. The survey reflected the extent of Coronavirus infection till the end of April as antibodies take at least two weeks time to develop after the recovery from the virus, the NITI Aayog had said while sharing the preliminary findings of the survey. The government had collected the samples from a total of 83 districts across the country but only shared the findings from 65 districts.
Rajesh Bhushan, Officer on Special Duty at the Health Ministry told ANI that even as the government is planning the second round of the serological survey, all the findings of the first survey have not been released by the medical professionals and are still analysing the data from the first survey.
Findings of the first survey are still under the process of evaluation and we had only shared the primary findings of the survey, Bhushan told ANI. He also said that the government is going to do a follow up survey across the country to analyse the present trend of Covid-19 infection. He further said that it takes a lot of time and analysis on the part of the health authorities before coming to any definite conclusions on such exercises.
In a sero survey, the health authorities collect the blood samples of a large section of the population to ascertain the presence of Covid-19 antibodies. The presence of antibodies in a body is believed to be the sign that the person had come in the grip of the disease and has also developed the immunity to fight against the disease. Usually, a recovered patient develops antibodies against the virus in a period of over two weeks after the onset of the infection.
So far, the country has reported more than 7.6 lakh confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the country with more than 21 thousand casualties, as on Thursday. Daily tests undertaken by the health authorities have also seen a consistent increase with over 2.6 lakh samples getting tested every day, ANI reported. However, the spread of testing varies from state to state with most affected regions like Delhi and Maharashtra conducting a bulk of the total tests.
The government had collected the samples from a total of 83 districts across the country but only shared the findings from 65 districts.
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