UP to conduct sero survey in 11 districts, including Lucknow

Shailvee Sharda | TNN | Aug 21, 2020, 06:16 IST

Picture used for representational purpose only

LUCKNOW: UP government late on Thursday evening ordered a sero-prevalence survey to be conducted in 11 districts to find out the extent of the spread and also immunity towards the Covid-19 infection in the community.
The order came on a day when Delhi’s second sero survey revealed the prevalence of the virus in 29% of the population. In his order, additional chief secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said: “King George’s Medical University will moderate the survey which covers 11 districts of the state --Kanpur, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Agra, Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Baghpat, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Lucknow and Meerut.”

The field work will start in a week’s time as the process for procurement of the required elisa kits is in its final stages, sources said. Directing the CMOs in the order, Prasad said, 10 teams comprising four persons in each district led by a medical officer will be formed.
The teams will look for Covid-19 clusters where they will look for 24 people living in six households across four localities for the study. Samples will be taken from both rural and urban areas.
Subjects between 18 and 59 years age group would be engaged for the study. They must be able to read and understand Hindi and English and also agree to provide a written consent for sharing the details asked for in a subsequent interview.
The district teams will collect samples and transport them to KGMU for testing. Once all the samples are collected, the outcomes will be evaluated.
‘Surveys could be significant step in battle against virus’
Stating that scientifically designed serological studies can provide valuable insights into the extent of prior Covid infection and aid improvising containment strategies, public health specialist and epidemiologist, Dr Vishwajeet Kumar said: “Knowing that the majority of cases are asymptomatic and therefore liable to be missed by RT-PCR testing, sero-prevalence surveys could be a significant step in the ongoing battle against the pandemic.”