Second round of statewide sero-survey begins; 630 samples collected

The second round of the statewide Covid-19 serological survey started in the district on Monday. At least 630 blood samples were collected from 12 rural and four

The second round of the statewide Covid-19 serological survey started in the district on Monday. At least 630 blood samples were collected from 12 rural and four urban areas. Through the collection of blood samples, presence of antibodies developed against the Covid-19 infection will be checked to gauge the prevalence of the infection within the community. This because many people might get infected but can still remain asymptomatic.

HT Image

Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurugram, said, “On Tuesday, 90 samples will be collected from the identified clusters. The overall sample size of the district is 750. The purpose of the survey is to know how many people in the district have already suffered from the Covid-19 infection. It has been observed that many people get the infection but do not display the signs and symptoms of the illness.”

Antibodies develop in the body two weeks after the onset of infection and can last for several months. It is for this reason antibody test is not preferred for detecting acute infection.

In the first survey conducted across the state in August, 18,905 samples were collected, which showed sero-positivity of SARS-CoV-2 at 8%. At that time, it was found that urban population was affected more than the rural population. In urban areas, the sero-positivity was 9.6%, while in rural areas it was 6.9%. Districts like Gurugram, falling in the NCR region showed higher prevalence. Gurugram had 10.8% sero-positivity and Faridabad reported the highest positivity of 25.8%.

Yadav said that the second round is now being conducted on COVID-19 Sero Survey Mobile App. According to him, this helps in online data entry, geo-tagging, offline data entry, and self-generated SMS.

Gurugram Covid-19 numbers

On Monday, the district reported 249 new cases, taking the total count of Covid-19 infections to 25,389. Of these 2,398 are active cases, while 22,801 have recovered from the illness. The Covid-19 toll stands at 190. More than 92% of the active cases are currently under home isolation, 11 in district Covid care centre and 174 are hospitalised.