BENGALURU: In the backdrop of rising Covid cases and increase in the number of containment zones, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Wednesday kicked off a serosurvey in the city, which will be completed within a week.
The survey was launched from the Ulsoor Referral Hospital by BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta.Samples will be taken from areas where Covid clusters are on the rise as well as from where there are no clusters. Experts from the BBMP advisory committee said that the list of people to be surveyed in every BBMP zone is ready.
According to the BBMP, 2,000 people will be surveyed, of which 30 per cent will be under 18 years of age, 50 per cent above 18 years and 20 per cent above 45 years of age. Blood samples of 1,000 vaccinated individuals and 1,000 non-vaccinated individuals will be collected to determine the level of antibodies present. Blood serum and throat swab samples will also be collected from individuals identified through a door-to-door survey.
The survey will be conducted by teams from the primary healthcare centres in the city and coordinated by infectious diseases experts and health officials of the zones, the BBMP chief said.The serosurvey is being conducted to gauge the infection resistance and severity of the spread of the virus and its variants, BBMP health officials said.
It will give an idea about how many people have and have not been infected, and how many have enough antibodies to fight the virus. Based on the survey report, further rules will be laid out on what needs to be done to control the spread of the virus and the steps to be taken in future, Gupta said.