NIN Sero survey in Telangana from Tuesday

The survey will be conducted in Jangaon, Kamareddy and Nalgonda; for the first time, children aged 6-9 to be included

Hyderabad: City-based National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) in association with the State government will take up the fourth round of community-based sero-surveillance survey in Jangaon, Kamareddy and Nalgonda districts from Tuesday. The sero-surveillance is part of the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) country-wide sero-surveillance initiative to test the formation of antibodies among individuals.

The survey is in continuation of the earlier three rounds conducted in these districts in May, August and December 2020. Apart from including all the age groups in the survey, for the first time, children aged between six and nine will also be a part of the sero-survey of NIN. The other age groups who will be covered in three phases include 10 years to 17 years adolescents, above 18-year adults and healthcare workers (HCWs).

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The IgG antibody-based sero-positivity indicates the extent of spread in the general population. This will help monitor the trends of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the general population and frontline workers, thus forming the basis for strengthening control measures for the impending spike in numbers, if any.

“This will be the fourth in the serial cross-sectional surveys and about 400 subjects will be covered from 10 villages of each of the three districts. In addition, 100 HCWs from district hospitals, community health centres and so on will be covered from each district,” said Dr A Laxmaiah, Head of the Public Health Division at ICMR-NIN and the co-ordinator of the survey.

Dr Hemalatha R, Director, ICMR-NIN said, “the population-based seroepidemiological studies will help us determine the burden of Covid-19 infection at the community level. For this purpose, we are actively working in association with the Telangana State government. We are happy that the State Health Department and the district authorities have ensured smooth operationalisation of this surveillance.”

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