Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) launched Friday the second round of serological survey. The serological survey is being done to ascertain the immune strength of people against COVID-19. It is being done as the Odisha capital is witnessing a rise in coronavirus cases this month.
Five teams will collect 1,500 samples from various locations in the city to conduct the serological survey, an official said.
“The current exercise will provide an indication of the community exposure level. It was found to be very low during the first round of the serological survey,” the official said.
The Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) is providing technical support to BMC to carry out the two-day survey here.
“In the first round of the survey, 900 samples were collected. The immunity level is relatively low across the communities in the city. Luckily large scale transmission has probably not occurred in the state capital,” Dr Jayasingh Kshatri, a scientist working at the RMRC, said.
RMRC Director Sanghamitra Pati and BMC Commissioner PC Chaudhury are leading the exercise, the official said.
The new survey will also be helpful to determine whether there is any change in the immunity of a group of people who were covered in the first serological surveillance. The first survey was conducted about four weeks ago.
Additional District Urban Public Health Officer Dr CVSN Rao said the community exposure to COVID-19 was relatively low here. This is due to a slew of measures taken by the BMC authorities and the city police.
Bhubaneswar has reported 8,647 COVID-19 cases till Thursday. There are 3,478 active cases in the city. So far 36 patients have died so far.
