Nagpur: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has started Covid-19 sero-surveillance across the city from Monday. The target is to collect samples of 2,000 people within a week.
NMC additional municipal commissioner Ram Joshi told TOI, “Sero-surveillance will help know whether there was community spread, and cluster of cases also in areas from where cases were less. Samples of 2,000 people, who have never tested positive, and were not low or high-risk contacts of positive patients, will be collected.”
Joshi added 80 staffers have been engaged for the drive. “Samples will be submitted to GMCH for testing,” he said.
Dr Uday Narlawar is nodal officer for the sero-surveillance. He prepared list of areas to be covered under the survey and submitted it to the civic body.
Joshi said, “Samples of three persons from slums and two from non-slum areas will be taken in each of the identified localities.”
Zilla parishad had started a similar survey to cover 2,000 people in rural parts of the district. The drive to collect samples is almost nearing completion.
The blood samples will be tested to look for IgG antibodies. If detected in any person, IgG antibodies will indicate the person was infected but did not realize it as he or she was asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.
This is the second such survey in the district. The first survey was conducted in July, which covered around 2,500 persons. At that time, survey was conducted in containment zones as well as non-containment zones. The results had shown 4.64% of total tested persons had IgG antibodies, as cases were low and community spread was not there in July.