Second sero survey begins in Bhubaneswar, 2500 samples targeted
BHUBANESWAR: Amid the surge in Covid-19 cases from unknown sources, the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) in Bhubaneswar on Friday commenced the second round of serological survey in the city to study the community transmission and prevalence of antibody among the general population.
The Odisha capital is witnessing a rise in coronavirus cases this month.
The survey is being carried out by five teams comprising six to eight members in Sikharchandi slum area, Nayapalli, Unit-IX, Laxmisagar, Sabar Sahi, Haripur, Museum Colony, Biseswar slum, and Sailashri Vihar.
Officials of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), who are coordinating with RMRC for the exercise, said the second-round survey will be carried out in two phases in which 2,500 samples will be collected from 25 wards.
Around 1,500 samples will be collected from the residential communities through random sampling which will continue till Saturday, while 900 more samples will be collected from high-risk groups including health workers, police and security personnel, and sanitation workers after seven days.
With a large majority of the population in the city still susceptible to the infection, officials said this survey will provide insights into the community exposure levels which were as low as 1.42% in the first round of the survey conducted in July.
Additional District Urban Public Health Officer Dr. CVSN Rao said the community exposure to COVID-19 was relatively low in the city due to a slew of measures taken by the BMC authorities and the city police.
Bhubaneswar has reported 8,647 Covid-19 cases till Thursday. There are 3,478 active cases in the city and 36 patients have died so far.
(With PTI inputs)