Aatmja Kumari(Intern Journalist): The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) started a serosurvey to determine the prevalence of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country. The second round of which has been completed and now the final stage of the results is being analyzed. A statement from the council said, “The second round of the nationwide serosurvey under the leadership of ICMR has been successfully completed. The final phase analysis of the survey is now underway and the results of the first survey will be compared to it.”
The serosurvey is done by taking samples of people who have produced anti-bodies against the coronavirus Sars-Cov-2. According to ICMR sources, the final results of the serosurvey will be made public by the end of the month. The purpose of the serosurvey is also to determine how the prevalence of the disease has changed since the first serosurvey in May (when there was a nationwide lockdown). Around 24,000 samples have been tested in the same 69 districts in 21 states, which were included in the first round of the National Sero Survey. ICMR’s National Institute of Epidemiology in Chennai (Tamil Nadu) is the nodal agency to supervise survey and analysis results.
ICMR director Dr. Balaram Bhargava also recently confirmed that the serosurvey was already completed and the results were likely to be out by the end of September. In the first serosurvey which was conducted by ICMR at the National Center for Disease Control, State Health Departments, And in association with the World Health Organization (WHO), it saw a 0.73% pan-India spread of Sars-Cov-2.
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