The Uttar Pradesh government will begin five-day sero survey in the Taj city from Friday to ascertain the percentage of population with anti-bodies against Covid-19, said a top medical official.
“We have constituted 10 teams with four members each including a doctor, lab technician, ASHA worker and ANM. The teams will collect samples from 45 locations earmarked for the purpose,” said Dr RC Pandey, chief medical officer, Agra. An expert team from Lucknow too will join the survey, he said.
The survey is to be undertaken across 11 districts of Uttar Pradesh and was scheduled earlier but dates were extended twice. The districts where the survey will be conducted are Meerut, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Baghpat and Agra.
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Initially, the plan was to collect 1,080 samples in three days but now with more days in hand 1,444 samples will be collected, Pandey added.
“The purpose of sero survey, as conducted in Delhi and other cities, is to find how much of the population has developed antibodies against the virus. This would help in planning an effective strategy to counter the spread of the deadly virus,” said the CMO.
{{/usCountry}}“The purpose of sero survey, as conducted in Delhi and other cities, is to find how much of the population has developed antibodies against the virus. This would help in planning an effective strategy to counter the spread of the deadly virus,” said the CMO.
{{/usCountry}}The blood samples will be collected from the selected group of people and sent to King George’s Medical University (KGMU) laboratory in Lucknow to determine the presence of the antibodies through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test.
Agra was the first district in the state to report Covid-19 in the month of March.