Haryana: 3rd sero survey postponed for a few days

The third round of Covid-19 serological survey, which was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, has been postponed, health officials said on Tuesday

The third round of Covid-19 serological survey, which was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, has been postponed, health officials said on Tuesday. The stratified random sampling for the survey, which will include children in the 6-17 age group for the first time, has to be modified further, they said.

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Rajeev Arora, additional chief secretary, Haryana health department, said, “The survey has been postponed for a few days, and is likely to start within this week. It was delayed due to the addition of new parameters in the sampling strategy.”

Data collection of the sero survey has to be done on a mobile application, which will also be modified with new changes.

A serological survey is done to detect the body’s immune response to the coronavirus infection. Out of the total 8,800 participants, over 3,520 children of six to 17 years will be covered in this serological survey, which will be held across Haryana on June 15 and 16. Of these, 5,280 people will be adults, 2,640 children of 10-17 years, and 880 children of six to nine years.

This comes as children are not being covered under the ongoing vaccination programme. The survey results will help in analaysing the trend for the possible third wave of Covid-19, with children likely to be the most affected.

Out of the 400 samples in Gurugram, at least 160 children between six and 17 years will be covered in 20 clusters. Their blood samples will be collected to check for IgG antibodies. It will also provide information on the proportion of the population having Covid-19 antibodies even if they did not have symptoms or diagnosis with the disease.

About 60 people from the health department were trained earlier this week, to conduct the stratified multistage random sampling. A team comprising three members has been formed for each cluster. It includes a doctor, auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM), and a lab technician.

Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, said, “Our teams are ready to start the survey once we receive the green signal from the Haryana health department. New guidelines will be shared with the team in a few days.”

Gurugram has conducted two rounds of sero survey in 2020, where the sero-positivity rate in the urban areas was recorded at 18.5%, while it increased to 25.9% in the second round. In rural areas, it increased from 5.7% in the first round to 10.1% in the second round.