To gauge the prevalence of coronavirus in India, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is carrying out household-level cross-sectional antibody testing of 24,000 adults in 69 districts of 21 states and Union Territories.
Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Assam and Bihar are some of the states participating in the process.
‘The ICMR, New Delhi, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India and National Centre for Disease Control with support from state health departments and key stakeholders, including WHO, India is conducting a community-based sero-survey to estimate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Indian population,’ the ICMR said in a statement on Tuesday, May 12.
According to an expert, the population-based survey by ICMR in collaboration with other stakeholders will help in estimating if there has been acommunity spread of the communicable virus, reported First Post.
To conduct the survey ICMR’s National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) will coordinate with National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), Chennai.
For the survey, people from Red, Orange and Green zones in a district will be randomly tested to check if they have developed antibodies against the infection, even if they are asymptomatic or mild symptoms. Venous blood samples will be collected from 400 randomly selected people, one per each household from 10 clusters in each district.
‘Sera from these individuals will be tested for the presence of IgG antibodies using the ELISA test developed by ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. The results of the survey will provide information about the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) in different parts of the country,’ the ICMR said.
The officials said that they had anticipated to start the tests earlier, but had to postpone their plans as the rapid antibody test kits brought from China showed inaccuracy in some instances.
The survey will be conducted at 10 health facilities. This would test outpatient attendees and pregnant women among the low-risk category, and health care workers among the high-risk category.
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