NEW DELHI: Amidst the daily surge in fresh coronavirus cases, the Delhi government started the city’s third sero survey to check for the prevalence of Covid-19 antibodies.This time, the state will be collecting samples from 17,000 residents across all districts for seven to ten days. On Tuesday, Delhi registered 2,312 new cases, a worrying sign given the steady rise of fresh cases over the past 10 days. The active cases currently stand at 15,870 while the recovery rate stands at 88.51 per cent.
Meanwhile, hospitals have once again started witnessing a surge in bed occupancy. However, as per hospital administration and the state government, these patients are mostly from the neighbouring towns of Delhi.
As per the Delhi government’s corona app, hospitals such as Max Saket and Patparganj, Apollo Indraprastha, VIMHANS, Fortis Vasant Kunj, BL Kapoor, Venkateshwar, Fortis Escort, Akash Healthcare, Sri Balaji Action, Dharmshila Narayana Hospital, Sanjeevan Hospital, National Heart Institute, Maharaja Agrasen, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre and five others have no beds left with ventilators. Other hospitals such as Ram Manohar Lohia, Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, Hindu Rao, ESI Basaidarpur, Max Shalimar, Saroj Super Specialty Hospital and Cygnus Hospital among some other facilities have limited number of beds available with ventilators.
“The previous surveys were done district-wise. But this time, it is being done ward-wise to analyse the Covid situation in the city at a micro-level. So all 272 municipal wards of Delhi will be covered, plus two Assembly areas. Sampling will be done for a week. After that, results should come in 7-10 days,” Jain said while talking about sero survey.
In the last sero survey, whose reports came in August, found that 29.1 per cent population in the city have already developed Covid antibodies. Such antibodies are only possessed by those who have been exposed to the virus. Based on the percentage, it was estimated that roughly 59 lakh people have recovered and antibodies have been found in them out of a population of 2 crore.
The first sero survey was conducted by the NCDC in which antibodies were found in 22 per cent of people surveyed.