Uttar Pradesh’s sero survey to commence from September 4

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh’s sero prevalence survey will begin from Friday, September 4, almost three weeks ahead of schedule. Amit Mohan Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), Government of Uttar Pradesh, said that two rounds of training will take place ahead of the actual sample collection. He said, “The King George’s Medical University (KGMU) will moderate the survey, which will cover 11 districts, incljding Kanpur, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Lucknow and Agra.” He went on to say that the sample collection will take place between September 4 and 6. As many as 1,080 samples will be collected from each district. This means 11,080 samples will be collected and transported to the KGMU for testing.

Several states like Delhi, Punjab and Maharashtra have already released the outcomes of their sero-surveys. Further, all Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) concerned have been asked to form 10 teams comprising four persons, led by a medical officer, in each district. The team will look for Covid-19 clusters wherein they will identify 24 persons living in six households across four localities — in urban and rural areas — who can be roped in for the study.

Public health specialist Dr. Vishwajeet Kumar said: “Knowing that the majority of the cases are asymptomatic and liable to be missed in the RT-PCR testing, sero-prevalence surveys can be a significant step in the ongoing battle against the pandemic.”