The Union Health Ministry has issued new guidelines to increase COVID-19 testing and sampling at the district level, stating that it has decided to conduct a population-based serosurvey in select districts across the country.
This surveillance will be in addition to the routine testing and the new trend-checking method.
“There is a need to establish systematic surveillance for COVID-19 infection in districts and monitor the trend in the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 at the district level,” the Ministry said.
The surveillance unit will consist of 10 health facilities from each district. Among the low-risk population, outpatient attendees (non-ILI patients) and pregnant women will be tested and among the high-risk population, healthcare workers will be surveyed. At least 100 samples per week and 400 per month from selected districts among the high-risk population will be collected.
Results of this sample pooling are for surveillance purposes. It should not be used for diagnosis of patients, it said. In addition to throat/nasal swabs, blood samples should be collected for detecting IgG antibodies for ELISA testing, it added.
