E-Paper
ICMR teams arrive in Ludhiana to conduct 4th round of sero survey
Will collect 400 samples, 200 each from rural and urban pockets; will also test children and health workers in district hospitals
Teams of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Delhi, arrived in Ludhiana to conduct the fourth round of sero survey, four days after the state reported its first case of Delta Plus variant.
The teams will collect 400 samples, 200 each from rural and urban pockets.
While one team will visit five villages, the other will collect samples from five locations in the city to collect samples. They will also collect samples of children to ascertain their exposure to the virus. Besides, the ICMR officials will collect blood samples of healthcare workers in the district hospitals.
In a sero survey, blood samples are tested for the presence of IgG (immunoglobulin G) antibodies that determine a past infection due to the coronavirus. Sero surveys are also important to determine whether the disease has entered the community transmission stage or not.
The health department teams visited Ahmedgarh Mandi in Malerkotla district to collect the samples of residents. It was on June 25 that a 68-year-old ex-serviceman from Jand village was found positive for the Delta Plus variant.
His wife was also tested positive and both recovered in home isolation. It is suspected that the infected persons had visited Ahmedgarh Mandi.
The team collected 400 samples from Latala village in the past two days where the patient’s son runs a vehicle repair shop.
Identified as B.1.617.2.1, the strain is characterised by the K417N mutation in the spike protein of the virus. The spike protein is what helps the virus infect human cells and K417N has been associated with immune escape, or evasion, that leaves the virus more immune to vaccines or drugs.
