‘ICMR’s random sampling process to assess immunity level against Covid-19’
› They visited the identified places in the district and collected random samples of 40 persons. The state health department is coordinating with the ICMR teams. DR RAMDEV PASWAN, Pakur civil surgeon
DHANBAD: A 20-member team of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) conducted a three-day long community survey in Jharkhand’s Pakur district from May 26 to May 28 to assess immunity level among people to fight coronavirus, officials said on Thursday.
The team had divided the district into 10 clusters and collected a total of 400 random samples from people of different age groups.
“Forty samples were collected from each cluster for testing,” team members said.
Confirming the same, project manager of ICMR team, Anushil Anand, after completing the three-day survey on Thursday, said,“The samples were collected to assess level of immunity in people against the disease.The 400 samples will be sent to Chennai-based National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis Centre (NIRTC) for further tests.”
The central government has identified 69 districts across the country, including three from Jharkhand –Pakur, Latehar and Simdega- for the purpose.
Pakur has reported four Covid-19 cases till date.
Sahebganj, out of the 24 in Jharkhand, is the only district that remains Covid-19 free as yet.
Till Thursday afternoon, 448 positive cases were registered in the state.
Pakur civil surgeon (CS) Dr Ramdev Paswan on Thursday said the ICMR team had nothing to do with negative or positive Covid-19 cases.
“They visited the identified places in the district and collected random samples of 40 persons. The state health department is coordinating with the ICMR teams,” he added.
The civil surgeon said the ICMR team visited villages in Amrapar, Littipara and
Maheshpur development blocks in the districts and collected samples of residents.
Medical officer in-charge of Amarapara community health centre (CHC) Dr Prem Kumar Marandi, along with his medical squad, assisted the ICMR team in collecting the samples.
In Maheshpur block, CHC medical officer in-charge (MOIC) Dr Anjani Bhagat and his team helped them to conduct the survey while maintaining social distancing.
In villages of Littipara block, medical officer in-charge Dr Arvind Kushal Ekka assisted in the task.
The ICMR team on Thursday left for Ranchi.