Sero survey begins today in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Delhi government health teams will start collecting blood samples across Delhi from Saturday to detect the presence of virus-fighting antibodies in the population to know the spread of Covid-19. Phlebotomists – or lab technicians – from government-run dispensaries and mohalla clinics will collect 20,000 samples from 11 districts by July 10.

“People will not have to come to testing centres for the antibody sample collection. It is a simple blood draw that can be done at their homes with minimal risk of the infection spreading. The samples will be sent to NCDC for processing,” said a district official.

The district teams had been trained by experts from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the processes to be followed were discussed Friday evening. However, no formal SOPs or guidelines were received. “Yes, we are all set to roll out the survey tomorrow, all the protocols are in place,” said an NCDC official .

Every district will have to collect about 2,000 samples that is statistically representative of the population of Delhi.