Second sero survey starts in Ghaziabad today

Ghaziabad: A sero survey ordered by the state government in all 75 districts will start in Ghaziabad on Wednesday. The survey is aimed at determining the prevalence of antibodies in people.
Samples will be collected from those who had Covid in the past. A total of 10 teams will collect samples in the city while six additional groups have been formed for urban slums. The survey will be held in two phases — June 4 and 6, and June 9 and 11.
Health officials said the survey would give them an idea about how many people had actually contracted the infection and how long antibodies survive in a person. This will also help the authorities chart the vaccine policy in the district. “The study will cover several aspects related to Covid. It will help us frame guidelines for Covid containment and also design the vaccine policy,” said Dr RK Gupta, the district surveillance officer.
The Ghaziabad administration had in September last year carried out its first sero survey. A little more than 22% of the people tested in 11 districts of the state were found to have antibodies against Covid. Samples of about 1,440 people were taken from each of the districts.
In every district, 31 primary sampling units have been formed and 24 samples will be collected in each. In slum areas, 18 urban slum units have been identified where 36 samples would be collected. To determine how long antibodies survive in a person, samples of 42 people who were Covid positive in the recent past will be collected.