Sero survey begins in 11 UP districts today

The Uttar Pradesh health department will begin a serological survey in 11 districts of the state, including Lucknow, from Friday to determine the prevalence of the coronavirus infection among people.

The districts where the survey will be conducted are Meerut, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Baghpat and Agra. “Ten teams will conduct sampling work in each district. Tests will be for Covid, hepatitis B and C,” said Dr MK Singh, the Lucknow chief medical officer (incharge).

Additional chief secretary (health and family welfare) Amit Mohan Prasad said the serological survey would involve testing the blood serum of a group of individuals to determine the presence of antibodies against the Sars-CoV-2 infection. The health teams have already been trained to conduct the tests.The state health department will carry out the survey in coordination with King George’s Medical University (KGMU).

The samples will determine the presence of antibodies through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test.

In Lucknow, sampling will be done in Bakshi Ka Talab, Chinhat, Gosaiganj, Itaunja and Kakori in the rural pockets and wards 1, 2, 15, 18, 25, 26 and 49 among the urban areas.

KGMU will test the samples collected from different districts. “We have been testing samples for Covid-19 on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machines. The lab has been functioning in the microbiology department here since March. The staff are trained and the equipment ready,” KGMU spokesperson Dr Sudhir Singh said.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has conducted a separate serological survey in seven districts — Balrampur, Gonda, Mau, Unnao, Auraiya, Saharanpur and Gautam Buddha Nagar.

“The data will be released by National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, in mid-September,” said an ICMR official.