VARANASI: The three-day Covid-19 seroprevalence survey began in the district on Wednesday to find the presence of antibodies against coronavirus in humans through blood samples.
The survey is crucial in finding whether immunity against the pandemic virus is developing in the population and to what extent.
Chief medical officer Dr.
VB Singh said, “Sixteen teams have been engaged for the survey in 31 rural and 18 urban areas.
During the random survey, these teams will collect 1,392 samples, including 744 from the general population and 648 from the slum population.
The collected samples will be sent to the microbiology department of KGMU, Lucknow on a daily basis.” The CMO said each team of the health department has a doctor, a lab technician, an ANM and an ASHA worker.
These teams would collect samples by dividing the identified area of the general population into four sectors.
Six samples including two from adult males, two from adult females and two from boys/girls of 5-17 years age bracket would be collected from the general population.
Similarly, nine samples including three from adult males, three from adult females and three from boys/girls of 5-17 years age bracket would be collected from the slum population.
He said that the objective of the seroprevalence surveys is to find the presence of antibodies against coronavirus in humans.
It will also help in understanding how much of the population is infected with the Covid-19.
As many cases are asymptomatic and therefore liable to be missed by RT-PCR testing, seroprevalence surveys could be a significant step in the ongoing battle against the pandemic.
The findings will help in further planning.