30% of those covered by sero survey will be minors

New Delhi: In the month of May, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had conducted a serological survey across 83 districts in 21 states of the country in which blood samples were collected from 26,400 individuals.

A major difference in that survey and the serological survey being carried out in Delhi by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and Delhi government is that among the 20,000 blood samples that will be collected, 30% would be of minors.

“Approximately 30% of our total population is paediatric and so we are focussing on collecting paediatric blood samples in Delhi,” said an NCDC official.

“This is something that was not done in the ICMR survey. Also, the survey being carried out in Delhi is a randomised but uniform survey and areas have been chosen as per the proportion of population and no other template,” he added.

Total 20,000 blood samples, which translate to 0.1% of Delhi’s population, will be collected in the survey that will be completed by July 10. “The testing of blood samples is being carried out in our laboratory but the test results will be shared only on/after July 10,” the official said.

While the survey had a tepid start on Saturday from two districts, it has gathered pace now and is being carried out in all districts of the city. Delhi government is increasing the number of health workers and eventually, total 200 teams will be on ground.

Blood samples for the survey are being collected from every fifth house in an identified area by teams comprising auxiliary nurses, lab technicians of mohalla clinics, dispensary staff and ASHA workers.

“As we are carrying out randomised sampling, blood sample is taken from every fifth house of a selected locality, which may or may not be in a containment zone,” a healthcare worker deployed in the central district said.

“The survey will help us gauge if the community’s immunity against Covid-19, in the shape of antibodies, has developed or not. It will also help understand the spread of Covid-19 in the community and how much antibody is present in the blood of those who have been infected but are asymptomatic,” he said.