Telangana State government along with the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) in association with the has initiated a house-to-house survey in 30 villages across three districts —Jangaon, Kamareddy and Nalgonda as part of the community based sero-surveillance, according to NIN Director R. Hemalatha.
She said that coronoavirus disease (COVID-19) has emerged as a pandemic, and the infection due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has now spread to more than 200 countries. It has been observed that SARS-CoV-2 causes asymptomatic infection for which sero- surveillance is strongly recommended for active case finding, testing, and contact tracing.
Also, surveillance of antibody based sero-positivity indicates the extent of spread of infection in the given population and forms the basis for strengthening public health mitigation measures. Household based studies can generate evidence on role of asymptomatic and mild infections in transmission, she explained in a press release.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has initiated a nationwide survey to establish community-based district level sero-surveillance and to monitor the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the general population. In each of the three districts chosen, 10 villages will be selected randomly, and from each village 40 adults (above 18 years), both men and women, will be randomly covered for the study.
The study will be carried out in four phases in the same villages (repeat cross-sectional study). The initial survey would serve as a baseline to determine the sero-prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the community, while the subsequent rounds would help to monitor the trends of infection in the community.
“Population based sero-epidemiological studies will help us determine the burden of COVID-19 infection at the community level and to monitor the trends in transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection,” said Ms. Hemalatha.
The findings of the study will be useful in designing and implementing appropriate containment measures. The objectives of this sero-surveillance are to estimate and monitor the trend of sero-prevalence for SARS-CoV-2 infection in the general population and high burden cities, determine the socio-demographic risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection, and delineate the geographical spread of the infection in the general population and hotspot cities, she added.
