Covid-19: 500 samples collected on first day of sero survey in Odisha’s Berhampur
BHUBANESWAR/ BERHAMPUR: Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) with the help of ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar has started a five-day long serological survey in the silk city from Monday to figure out the extent of the spread of the novel coronavirus.
BeMC commissioner Chakravarti Singh Rathore said at least five teams comprising the staff of the civic body and RMRC have been formed to conduct the survey. “Objective of the sero survey is to get an idea about the prevalence of antibodies among the residents, which will help the BeMC to determine the future course of action,” he added.
According to the strategy of the survey, 2,500 samples will be collected from 12 different priority groups, including high-risk groups from the BeMC area. While 1,000 samples will be collected from high-risk categories, other 1,500 samples will be collected randomly from community, official sources said.
RMRC Bhubaneswar sources said around 500 samples have been collected on the first day of the survey. Most of the samples were drawn from community of the city which witnessed more than 2,038 Covid-19 positive cases with 18 deaths so far.
RMRC Bhubaneswar director Sanghamitra Pati said the first round of the survey in Berhampur will be completed on Friday. “We will submit the survey report to the state government on August 10. The second round of the survey will start after 28 days,” she added.
Pati said they will conduct the sero survey in Badamba-Narasinghpur of Cuttack district from August 6. Around 1500 samples will be collected from this locality. The second round survey will be conducted here after 28 days like other places. “We are planning to do this survey in Gajapati district too,” she added.
First round of sero survey has been completed in Bhubaneswar municipal corporation (BMC). Around 1600 samples were drawn from high risk category people and 900 from community. The second round survey will be started soon in Bhubaneswar.
The RMRC had started the sero survey in Puri district from June 27. It has collected more than 650 samples from Puri. The state is planning to cover 10,000 people in nine districts of Odisha under the survey.
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