Over 1,000 samples to be collected in state capital

Sero survey on in Kashi, other east UP districts

: As the state government is all set to launch a massive sero survey in all 75 districts to ascertain prevalence of Covid infection from Friday, samples of people in the state capital will also be collected for three days under the exercise.

“About 1,000 samples will be taken in three categories and depending upon the need the number of samples will be increased,” said Dr Sanjay Bhatnagar, chief medical officer, Lucknow.

The three categories are urban and rural people who tested positive in first wave and those who contracted Covid infection in the second wave of the pandemic. The survey involves testing the blood serum to determine the presence of antibodies against the coronavirus. “The samples will be sent to the lab at the King George’s Medical University,” said a senior health official in Lucknow.

In September last, the state health department had conducted serological survey in eleven districts including Meerut, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Baghpat and Agra to understand development of antibodies among population.

“The tests are conducted on samples from the population selected via sampling techniques,” said Dr Abhishek Shukla, secretary general, Association of International Doctors. If the samples are detected with sufficiently high quantities of antibody in people during sero sampling, it suggests that those people have been infected in the past.The result of the sero sampling done in September last year suggested about one in five of the 16,000 people tested showed prevalence of antibodies against the Sars-Cov-2 pathogen that causes the Covid-19 disease.

: A team of researchers and scientists of Banaras Hindu University’s (BHU’s) zoology department, along with Biosense Technologies, India, is doing sero survey in 10 districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP) to find out how many people have developed antibodies against Covid-19 infection.

The 74-member team of scientists and researchers headed by professor Gyaneshwar Chaube of zoology department started sero survey around a fortnight ago. The survey will cover Azamgarh, Ballia, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Sonbhadra, Bhadohi and Mirzapur, Prof Chaube said. “There will be special focus on Varanasi,” he said.

While 500 samples would be collected from each of the other districts for antibody tests, in Varanasi 1000 antibody tests will be done. Over 400 tests have been done so far, prof Chaube said.

In Ghazipur’s Gahmar village, over 100 antibody tests will be done. The village, with a population of 50,000, has several villagers serving the Indian army and is hence also known as the village of bravehearts.

Professor Chaube said the survey will be completed by mid-August and its findings will be analysed to find out how many people developed antibodies during the second wave. “After that a detailed report will be prepared and sent to Prime Minister Office and union ministry of health and family welfare,” he said.

The report will also be shared with an international science journal, he added.