ICMR asks states to do sero-survey to measure COVID-19 exposure

With the initial tests conducted and doubling rate of COVID19 cases slowed nationally the question that lingers is whats next In an attempt to decide the future course of action against the pandemic the ICMR has given a detailed plan to all the states to measure coronavirus exposure in the general population as well as in highrisk populationsAnd that is why it has asked states to conduct serosurvey to measure coronavirus exposure in the population using IgG ELISA testThis serosurvey will guide appropriate public health intervention says the ICMR while adding that the numbers and frequency indifferent groups to be tested has been entrusted to states depending upon the requirement and situation in that particular areaThe serosurvey would be conducted using an IgG ELISA kit the same kit scientists at ICMRNational Institute of Virology in Pune have developed and validated as indigenous test for antibody detection for SARSCoV2The test has undergone intense validation in three stages and has been found to have high sensitivity and specificity To fasttrack production and increase availability of the IgG ELISA test ICMR has transferred this technology to many pharma companies like Zydus Cadila J Mitra amp Company Meril Diagnostics Voxtur Bio Trivitron Healthcare Karwah Enterprises Avecon Healthcare among othersThe technology has been transferred to various entities without exclusivity clause and therefore can be further shared with others as per demand and capability said Indias foremost medical research bodyExplaining the relevance of the test and its significance for India the ICMR said The test is useful only when performed in the acute stage of infection lt 7 days For several viral infections antibody tests are useful for disease detection after 57 days of illness Understanding related to antibody tests for COVID19 is evolving and several tests are being developed globallyWhat benfit will these tests result in They will help to understand the proportion of the population exposed to SARSCoV2 infection including asymptomatic individuals Depending upon the level of seroprevalence of infection the Centre can plan appropriate public health interventions and implement for prevention and control of the diseasePeriodic serosurveys are useful to guide the policymakers insisted the ICMR Moreover the survey in highrisk or vulnerable populations like healthcare workers frontline workers immunitycompromised individuals and those in containment zones will help the government to know who has been infected in the past and has now recoveredAll security personnel interacting with visitors conducting security screening physical checking and thermal screening are advised to take the survey These include CISF personnel involved in security especially of government offices and installationsEven police personnel on duty in containment zones and press reporters in the field and support staff are also the segments that the states have been asked to target Migrant workers who have travelled back from urban and semiurban areas to rural tribal hardtoreach areas in the country as well as natives after coming in contact with returned migrants should also be surveyed through this means said the ICMRIndustrial workers or labour force farmers vendors visiting large markets staff in municipal bodies drivers of ambulances hearses buses auto taxis are also listed as target segmentsAll prisoners with or without symptoms whenever there is a batch transfer or reported symptomatic should be surveyed just the way all ground staff security staff janitors sanitation staff flight captains and crew of domestic and international flights as well as cargo handlers should be targeted for this surveyEven banks post offices courier and telecom offices have been directed to be covered in this survey to get a more clear picture of the extent to which Indian have been affectedWhile asking the state and the UTs to conduct these serosurveys the ICMR has offered to provide technical support in planning and carrying out serosurveys using IgG Elisa test kits and also interpreting the resultsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever