Bhubaneswar undertakes sero-surveillance to ascertain extent of COVID-19 spread

In a bid to ascertain the level of COVID-19 spread in the region and for efficient management and control in the state capital, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started sero-surveillance from Saturday.

The sero-surveillance is being conducted with the support of the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar.

Speaking about the exercise, Dr Jaising, RMRC Scientist, said, "We have been providing technical support to the state government on a COVID-19 response plan, as a part of it we have initiated a COVID sero-surveillance study under BMC. The objectives of this study are to estimate the level of community transmission, if any, to see the community infection level, among other things. The first round of survey is commencing today, the second round will be done after 28 days, followed by further rounds."

"In this phase, we are taking 900 samples from the community and 1,600 from high-risk groups. A total of 2,500 samples which will be repeated in further rounds. We have selected 25 wards randomly and from those wards, we have selected random localities and from them, we are selecting one household. This will help in finding out the transmission status," he added.

Meanwhile, Amaresh Jena, corporator of ward number 45 where the study is being carried out said that his area was likely selected as four to five COVID-19 cases were found out from the area.

"It is being conducted to find out if there is any community spread in the area. I thank the government for starting this study here," Jena said.

( With inputs from ANI )