Bhubaneswar: About 1,200 samples were collected by the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) in two days from 25 wards in state capital till Saturday.
While samples from 635 individuals across 15 wards were collected on first day, 648 more people were tested on second day. On the second day, samples were collected from 10 wards in Gadakana, Patra Sahi, Bharatpur Slum, RBI Colony, Bayababa Matha Lane, Trishna Apartment, Paika Nagar, Shatabdi Nagar, Kargil Bast and Dumduma Phase IV.
It may be mentioned here that the RMRC, a regional division of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), is providing technical support in collaboration with the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). The target is to cover 1,500 people through this survey in two days’ time.
Furthermore, unlike other three types of tests conducted across the city to ascertain the positive or negative status of an individual vis-à-vis COVID-19, the serological surveillance will provide insights into the community exposure levels. As per the BMC and RMRC, the first round of sero-surveillance revealed that the levels remained very low at 1.42 percent. After the two-day survey the RMC will submit an interim report to BMC.
However, with high number of COVID-19 cases being detected in the city, experts are of the opinion that the second round is likely to reveal higher levels of exposure to the novel coronavirus. BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary and RMRC Director Dr Samghamitra Pati, who are leading the exercise, stated that the rise, if any, will be due to resumption of economic activities.
“The community exposure to COVID-19 virus was relatively low in first round in city due to a plethora of enforcement measures taken by the BMC authorities along with the Commissionerate Police. However, large majority of the population is still susceptible to the infection and, hence, all preventive measures of physical distancing, use of masks among others, prescribed by the government needs to be adhered to without complacency,” Chaudhary said.