Delhi Covid-19 sero survey from Sept 1 to Sept 5: All you need to know

The Delhi government is likely to share the result of the coronavirus sero survey by September 21

The third round of sero survey in Delhi to identify people who have the antibodies to fight against the coronavirus disease is scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

A woman gives a swab sample for coronavirus testing at Nehru Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital at Defence Colony in New Delhi on Monday. (Sonu Mehta/HT PHOTO)

The survey will be conducted between September 1 and 5 to know the section of people who may have contracted Covid-19 and have already recovered from the disease without realising it.

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The exercise helps the administration analyse trends and formulates schemes and strategies to contain the infection.

Here’s everything you need to know about it

--The swab sample of nearly 17,000 individuals will be collected for the sero survey drive that begins today.

--The Delhi government is likely to share the result of the survey by September 21, an official said.

--Health workers have been asked to collect 50% of the samples from individuals aged between 18 and 49 years in the Capital’s 11 revenue districts. While 25% samples need to be collected from age groups that represent minors, and the remaining from people aged 50 years and above, according to standard operating procedure (SOP) shared with officials.

--In the first phase of the exercise, as many as 21,387 samples were collected starting from June 27 till July 10. According to the survey, 22.86% people were found to have developed antibodies against the Sars-Cov-2 virus. The government had then announced it as a monthly exercise.

--Around 15,000 samples were tested in the second round of sero survey in the first week of August. Of them, 29.1% individuals were found to have developed antibodies.

--As of Monday, there were 1.74 lakh confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Delhi while the doll from the disease stood at 4,444, according to the health bulletin issued by the state government.

--Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has begun the second round of its coronavirus disease (Covid-19) sero survey to determine how many more Indians have been exposed to the infection since the first such exercise was conducted in May. Results are likely to be shared later this month.