Delhi govt plans sero-survey every month, next sample collection in August

A day after the findings of a sero-surveillance in Delhi showed 23.48% of the people in the national capital had exposure to COVID-19, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said such study will be conducted every month to formulate better policies for tackling the novel coronavirus. 

A fresh sero-survey will be conducted in the national capital from August 1-5, Jain said on Wednesday.

The sero-surveillance was conducted by Union Health Ministry's National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) in collaboration with the Delhi government from June 27 to July 10.

"The results of the sero-survey conducted from June 27-July 10 came out yesterday, and it shows that nearly one-fourth of people had developed antibodies, meaning they had got infected and recovered. Most of these people who were sampled did not know that they were infected earlier," Jain told reporters.

He said more samples will be taken in the next survey than in the previous exercise.

The study found that 23.48% of the people are affected in Delhi, which has several pockets of dense population.

"This can be attributed to the proactive efforts taken by the Government to prevent the spread of infection including prompt lockdown, effective containment and surveillance measures, including contact tracing and tracking, as well as citizen’s compliance to COVID Appropriate Behaviours," the Union Ministry of Health said. 

"However, a significant proportion of the population is still vulnerable. Therefore, containment measures need to continue with the same rigour. Non-pharmacological interventions such as physical distancing, use of face mask/cover, hand hygiene, cough etiquette and avoidance of crowded places etc., must be followed strictly," the ministry said. 

21,387 samples were collected as per lab standards and were tested. The tests done help in identification of the presence of antibodies in the general population. These test performed is not a diagnostic test but only provides information about past infection due to SARS-CoV-2 in individuals who test positive.

As per the survey, Southeast district of Delhi was found to have sero-prevalence of 22.12%, Shahadara 27.61%, Northwest 23.31%, New Delhi 22.87%, Central 27.86%, Southwest 12.95%, Northeast 27.7%, East 23.9%, North 25.26%, South 18.61% and West 19.13%.