Punjab launches community transmission surveillance programme in four districts

HEALTH DEPT COLLECTING BLOOD SAMPLES FROM PEOPLE IN PATIALA, LUDHIANA, JALANDHAR AND GURDASPUR FOR CONDUCTING RAPID ANTIBODY TESTS

AMRITSAR : The Punjab health department on Tuesday began collecting blood samples in four vulnerable districts under the ‘Community Transmission Surveillance Programme’ for conducting their ‘rapid antibody tests’ to find if the community transmission stage of Covid-19 has started in the state.

As a part of a nationwide survey initiated by the ICMR, the health department decided to collect samples from Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Gurdaspur, which have the maximum number of Covid-19 cases. “Punjab health department will send 400 samples from each district to the Chennai-based National Institute for Research to monitor the trends of the Covid-19 in community transmission. The blood samples will be tested through rapid antibody test kits and ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) test kits, developed by the National Institute of Virology, Pune,” said state health department spokesperson for Covid-19, Dr Rajesh Bhaskar.

He added, “The department has collected 400 samples from Patiala while collection of samples in Ludhiana is in process. In the next phase, blood samples will be collected from Jalandhar, followed by Gurdaspur.”

“We plan to complete the survey in a month. These four districts have been chosen as most of the cases reported in these areas were cases of community spread. Amritsar, with highest number of Covid-19 cases, was not included in the survey as most of the cases in the district pertained to Nanded-returnees and were not related to community spread,” Dr Bhaskar said.

He said the state has also conducted random sampling in each district to find out if Covid-19 is spreading in community or not. On daily basis, over 100 people are being tested randomly in each district through pool testing, he added. “This survey is to understand how the transmission of infection has been so far and how it is taking place in the later stages. This will also reveal if a person, whose sample is being tested, was ever infected by Covid-19 or not. Even if the person is found negative, the study can show if he or she was infected with the disease in the last 20 days or not,” Dr Bhaskar said

“Since most Covid-19 positive people in the country were asymptomatic, this survey will also help us find out if the virus has affected the healthy people, who don’t know if they are infected. This will also give an idea about the transmission based on gender, age and socioeconomic features,” a health official, seeking anonymity, said.