ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and Telangana government will initiate a Statewide SARS COV-2 serosurvey from January 4 onwards among the general population and healthcare workers, in all the districts of Telangana to assess the extent of community spread of the infection in the State.
The sero-prevalence will be assessed by examining the SARS Cov-2, IgG antibodies in the blood samples to be collected from the general population and health care workers (HCW) with the government’s Health department and other administrative departments collaborating, it was announced on Monday.
The house-to-house survey will cover 330 villages in all the 33 districts and several wards of the State. “About 16,000 people will be covered in this survey. In each of the 33 districts, 10 villages will be selected randomly and from each village 40 people above 6 years of age from, both males and females will be covered. In addition, samples and data will also be collected from healthcare workers in all the districts,” said Scientist and Head, Public Health Nutrition Division, ICMR-NIN, Dr Avula Laxmaiah, who is leading the survey.
“Over 20 teams each with a scientist/doctor, technician and phlebotomist, four co-ordinators and one lead scientist from NIN will work in tandem with the health department to complete the survey in about three weeks,” said ICMR-NIN director Dr R. Hemalatha, in a press release.
