Dist is second in prevalence of antibodies in containment zone

SERO SURVEY
Ludhiana: When it comes to the percentage of people in containment zones who have been exposed to Covid-19, Ludhiana district has the second highest number. This has come out in the recent sero survey of the Punjab government in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The survey was Punjab’s first exclusive one and conducted in five containment zones from August 1 to 17 among a systematically selected random sample population of 250 in each segment.
The survey found that antibodies against the Covid-19 infection were found in 27.7% of people in containment zones in Punjab. Amritsar district had highest antibodies prevalence in the containment zone at 40%, whereas Ludhiana district had 35.6% and SAS Nagar 33.2%.
Dr Alok, who was part of the ICMR team that did such a survey, said Ludhiana sero survey was conducted in Prem Nagar containment zone, and 250 samples were taken to analyse prevalence of antibodies. “The survey helped us in getting a picture of how many have been exposed to the disease and how many have got immunity. On the basis of the information, strategy is decided, like the number of contacts of positive patients to be sampled, among others,” he said.
He indicated that the decision of the chief minister to increase the curfew hours in the state was also guided by the survey.
ICMR official said teams from PGI, Chandigarh, and ICMR participated in the survey and as part of national sero survey they had collected samples from 10 places in Ludhiana district.
State health secretary Hussan Lal told The Times of India that the survey would help them in planning their strategy in controlling the pandemic. He added that the situation in Amritsar has been somehow controlled because initially they did a lot of contact tracing, but Ludhiana faced a problem because of the migrant population moving in and out.
“So, Ludhiana picked up more infection quickly and suddenly,” said the health secretary, adding that the chief minister has on Thursday announced doubling of testing capacity and three times the contact tracing (as of now it is 3.5 persons per positive patient but it will be increased to 10).”
Health department officials said with more testing and tracing of patients, the fatalities are expected to drop as patients will be detected early.
Ludhiana civil surgeon Dr Rajesh Bagga said they have been carrying out aggressive sampling and contact tracing and hope that cases would decrease.
The officials said even as five containment zones in five cities were chosen where the highest number of cases were reported, as per the survey in the remaining parts of the cities, the Covid-19 prevalence would be lower. They added in rural areas the prevalence would be much lower than the urban ones, as per the survey.