The third round of the nationwide sero survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has shown a rise in exposure to the COVID virus among the population of Simdega, Latehar, and Pakur districts within 90 days.

The findings of the survey, conducted in December, was released last week. It showed that of the 400 people sampled in Simdega, 17% had been exposed to the deadly virus. Likewise, 15.87% of the 397 people sampled in Pakur showed the presence of Covid antibodies. In Latehar, 12.06% (48) of the 398 people showed the presence of antibodies.

The numbers have increased from the previous sero survey, for which samples were collected between July and August last year. In the previous survey, the prevalence of antibodies for Covid was found among 10% of all the people sampled in Pakur, 2.7% in Latehar and 1.2% in Simdega. In the first sero survey, conducted between May and June last year, only 0.75% of the people tested had Covid 19 antibodies in the three districts.

The high sero-prevalence comes even as Pakur (903), Simdega (2,050) and Latehar (1,957) reported 4,910 Covid 19 cases till Monday night, making up a mere 4.12% of the total cases (1,19,017) cases reported in Jharkhand since March 31 last year. “The higher sero-prevalence means that we are into herd-immunity,” an official said on anonymity.

No Covid-19 death in Delhi after 9 months

For the first time in over nine months, Delhi did not record a single death due to Covid on Tuesday. The last time the city had recorded zero deaths due to Covid-19 in 24 hours was on May 11. Health minister Satyendar Jain said the reduction in deaths due to Covid was a victory of the collective will of people of Delhi. CM Arvind Kejriwal also congratulated the citizens.

According to experts, a sero survey aims at collecting serum samples from a relevant group of people to check if they have developed antibodies to fight an antigen, which in this case is the SARS-COV-2 virus. The survey indicates the extent to which the population of a district or a state has been exposed to a virus.

The findings of the national sero survey comes amid the Jharkhand government’s exercise to sample 5,000 people across 10 districts (Garhwa, Hazaribag, West Singbhum, Dumka, Pakur, Bokaro, East Singbhum, Dhanbad, and Ranchi districts) for assessing the presence of Covid antibodies even though the state is recording a declining in the rate of new daily infections.

Dr Anindya Mitra, nodal officer for the state level sero survey, said sampling in five districts -- Pakur Bokaro, East Singbhum, Dhanbad and Ranchi districts – commenced on Tuesday. “Each district will collect 400 samples cutting across age groups from a cluster identified by ICMR. That apart, 100 high-risk persons like doctors, health workers, frontline workers, sanitation workers and others -- will be sampled. The drive will continue till February 13. Thereafter, the samples will be sent to the Regional Medical Research Center in Bhubaneswar for determining the presence of antibodies through the Elisa test.”

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