BENGALURU: While the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in its first part of the serosurvey conducted in 83 districts has shown that less than one percent - 0.73% of the population has been found exposed to COVID-19 infection, the results in three districts of Karnataka have also emerged on a positive side with less prevalence.
A serosurvey involves testing of blood serum of a group of individuals and this will be used to monitor trends in the prevalence of the novel coronavirus, or SARS-COV-2, infection at the district level.
The National serosurvey conducted in Chitradurga, Bengaluru, Kalaburgi in the month of May 2020 jointly by ICMR-GOI, National TB Institute-GOI, and Government of Karnataka in the month of May revealed that in Bengaluru and Kalaburgi, 0.25% of the surveyed population showed evidence of past exposure to SARS COV-2. The survey points out that measures taken during lockdown have been successful in keeping the transmission low and in preventing the rapid spread of COVID-19. This implies that a large portion of the population must continue following precautionary measures as suggested by the Government from time to time.
Speaking to TNIE, Dr. CN Manjunath, Director of Jaydeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and member of the COVID-19 task force said, "This means there is a less prevalence and extend of disease in the community. Right now the course of the virus is six months and we are right in the fourth month. We don't know how it'll behave and precautionary measures need to be taken. Right the survey shows there is no community spread. In terms of Bengaluru irrespective of the number of cases, when we graph it against the population of 1.3 crores we see fewer cases. Bangalore is doing well. And the study also shows less prevalence."
This is however the baseline survey and the Government is looking forward to continued support for further rounds of the survey.
| District | Number of samples tested | Number of positive test results | Unweighted prevalence(%) |
| Chithradurga | 400 | 0 | - |
| Bengaluru | 400 | 1 | 0.25% |
| Kalaburgi | 399 | 1 | 0.25% |