Serological Survey

While covid-19 shows no signs of relenting, the recovery rate has improved in Jammu and Kashmir from 61 as on ending July to 69 percent now even as the fatality rate remains below 2 percent.
In other words, the SARS-CoV-2 is not as lethal as it was originally feared. However, the virus is more infectious and continues to spread with renewed vigor. In J&K, the case tally has already crossed the grim milestone of 26000 while deaths reached around 500-mark.
Chairing a meeting to take stock of the efforts toward mitigating covid-19 pandemic and review the related Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and policies, the Chief Secretary of J&K on August 11 ordered the health department to conduct serological surveys to ascertain the spread of infection in both the Valley and Jammu.
The decision is welcome as the survey helps assess the prevalence of a disease in a population. The direction needed to be implemented without delay as the serological survey, which includes the IgG Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test, estimates the proportion of the population exposed to the infection.
The survey helped New Delhi and Mumbai to achieve what seemed to be improbable at the start. In fact, Mumbai government was praised by the World Health Organization for the efforts taken by it to contain the virus spread in Dharavi, one of the world’s largest slums.
The survey was used by the scientists to estimate the spread of pestilence in Mumbai as well as New Delhi. The findings of Mumbai led to the conclusion that almost 57% of those tested in slums had been exposed to the covid-19 and had developed antibodies against it as compared to only 16% of those tested in residential societies.
Results from New Delhi’s seroprevalence study found that nearly a quarter of the 21,000-odd samples tested had been exposed to the covid-19 and some of the densest districts had over 20% prevalence.
Indian Council of Medical Research’s survey had shown that the number of those infected by covid-19 were many multiples of those that were being reflected in official confirmed-case statistics. While the vaccine is still at some distance away, many people continue to be vulnerable. The serology surveys would help record the progress of the virus and would show if a significant proportion of the population was still vulnerable in contracting the virus.

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