Bhubaneswar: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will conduct a national serological in 70 districts in the country, including three from Odisha, to ascetain the levels of penetration of Covid-19 in these areas.
The Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) in Bhubaneswar will jointly work on the project with the state Health department and the local administrations of the selected districts – Ganjam, Raygada and Koraput.
According to RMRC, preparations for the same have already started in the state. The sero survey is done at intervals to ascertain the levels of coronavirus infections in the community, especially the health workers, frontline workers, common people and others.
“We have already started the preparations and are coordinating with the state government to undertake the sero survey. This is the fourth national sero survey wherein samples from 10 clusters would be collected from each district,” Sanghamitra Pati, Director, RMRC, told Orissa POST.
She further said that during the survey the levels of exposure to the virus are tested among high risk communities, local communities and different sets of people. The survey also studies the presence of antibodies to find the exposure levels of people who might have been exposed to the virus in the period between the past two weeks and a month.
In the upcoming serological survey, the ICMR has planned to study the samples from children who are above the age of six years. “This year a peculiar element has been added where we will also be studying children above six years of age in the three districts of Odisha,” she said.
During the serological survey the teams collect blood samples of the selected members of different communities randomly to study the presence of antibodies in the subjects.
PNN
