Delhi begins 6th sero-survey amidst rising COVID-19 cases

NEW DELHI: Delhi government has decided to begin collecting blood samples for the sixth round of serological surveillance from today to determine the change in the population-level prevalence of antibodies against the virus SARS-CoV-2 between January and April. This decision comes amid sharp rise in new COVID cases in Delhi. The last round of sero-survey, which was conducted between January 11 and January 21, had found just over 56 per cent of Delhi residents had been exposed to the virus.

The current wave of coronavirus infections has crossed all the records in India and in Delhi. New Delhi recorded 10,774 new cases of COVID-19, and India recorded 1,68,912 new cases on Sunday, April 11. This round of sero survey will see just over 100 samples being collected from each of 272 municipal wards in Delhi, totalling 28,000.