HYDERABAD: The only way to prepare against an impending Covid-19 third wave is to have a robust four-method surveillance plan at a decentralised level, including genome sequencing, air surveillance, sewage surveillance and sero prevalence studies, noted CCMB director Dr Vinay K Nandicoori.
He was speaking at an event organised by the FICCI, in association with the FTCCI and ASCI, on preparedness for the third wave.
“The whole idea of this four-step surveillance is to have a model which will not only forecast the third wave, but also suggest how prepared our population is for the same in terms of immunity, and from where the outbreaks are likely to occur,” said Dr Nandicoori. He explained that genome sequencing will be crucial here and must be done at a large scale to identify new Covid-19 variants.
Apart from this, sero surveillance will play a crucial role to understand whether the immunity in the community is weaning off or still strong. The most recent sero-surveys have shown that 60-70 per cent of the population in some areas have achieved either vaccine or natural infection-induced immunity. Regular
sero surveys will show whether this immunity is depleting or is remaining so, he added.
“Apart from this, we also need air surveys which can be deployed at congested closed areas like hospitals, public transport and schools to understand which areas are potentially giving rise to outbreaks,” he added.
The idea of such surveillance is to notice the first signs of the next wave.
“While genome sequencing can show which variant is of concern, sero surveys can show level of immunity to withstand the variant. Meanwhile, an air survey can help curtail spread by identifying areas where super spreading events take place,” added Dr Nandicoori. Speaking about the current situation, he noted that the predominant variant in the State continues to be the Delta Variant and no new variant of concern has emerged, with even the Delta Plus variant not showing any significant spread.