FAQ: What Is COVID Sero Survey? Why Is Delhi Undertaking It?

Here’s all we know about the sero survey that will be undertaken in Delhi, later this week.

Medics arrive to take samples of suspected COVID-19 patients for lab tests at a government hospital in New Delhi. Image used for representation.

(Photo: PTI)

The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will conduct a sero-surveillance study across all 11 districts of Delhi, later this week in June, to determine the exposure of the national capital to the virus, reported ANI.

Here’s all we know about the survey and the significance of the study. Read on.

What is sero survey?

The serological survey is one that involves collecting blood samples to determine whether a person is infected with the novel coronavirus. It will also be used to detect whether the person was infected with the said virus in the past and identify antibodies being produced to combat COVID-19.

I want to be a part of the survey in Delhi. How can I?

• The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will be conducting the survey in 11 districts of Delhi, in as many as 20,000 households – but on a random sampling basis.
• Therefore, it is not possible for an individual or family to enroll for the survey.
• Individuals, even those below the age of 18, will be tested through random sampling method.

When will it be conducted? Should I pay for it if I am a part of the survey?

The survey is likely to start on 25 or 26 of June. The individual who is being surveyed need not pay for the test. It will be borne by the Central government.

Why is Delhi conducting the survey in first place?

To put it simply, the survey is being conducted to gauge the capital's exposure to the virus.

This is because the capital's positivity rate, which shows the share of people who test positive among those tested, has been one of the highest in the countries. For instance, the Delhi’s positivity rate has been around 25 percent for a few weeks now, as opposed to India’s positivity rate is about 7.7 percent from 5 to 18 June. The sero test can also determine whether a state is in the community transmission stage or not.

Delhi has the third highest number of cases in the country with almost 60,000 cases. This is likely to jump to 1,00,000 by June-end and 5,50,000 by end of July, according to estimates by the Delhi government.

Where has this sero survey been conducted earlier?

The ICMR had conducted a sero test across 83 districts with 26,400 samples. The study revealed that 0.73 percent of the population in these districts had evidence of past exposure to coronavirus. With this, the ICMR declared that India's lockdown was successful and that there was no community transmission in the country.

However, it is to be noted that this survey was conducted until 30 April, when India had 33,610 cases. In June, India has 10 times more the number of cases.

Haryana is another state that is undertaking the sero survey. The COVID deaths in the state have increased by five times, while the number of infected patients increased more than three times in the last two weeks of June.