New Delhi (NVI): The third phase of sero-prevalance survey in Delhi is scheduled to begin from today, with officials gearing up for the exercise to analyse the COVID-19 situation in the national capital.
The five-day exercise is set to cover 11 districts in the national capital this time. As many as 17,000 samples will be collected between September 1 and 5 from across the districts, said a Delhi government official.
The survey would assess the prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies in the community, help the authorities analyse the situation and adopt effective strategies to contain the spread of the virus.
Notably, in the first survey, a serological prevalence of 23.4 per cent was found, which was led by National Centre for Disease Control, the samples for which were collected from over 21,000 people.
Whereas, the second survey was conducted in the first week of August where 15,000 samples were collected. It revealed prevalence of COVID-19 antibodies in 29.1 per cent of the population, indicating that nearly 60 lakh of the two crore population of Delhi were infected and had successfully recovered.
Meanwhile, for the third sero survey, different sizes of sample would be collected based on a scientific formula to ensure it was representative of the population.
The samples would be divided into three categories — below 18 years, between 18 and 49 years and above 50 years.
Earlier in July, Health Minister Satyendar Jain announced that the government will conduct sero survey across the national capital every month to determine better policies to tackle the COVID-19 situation.
In the last 24 hours, Delhi has registered 1,358 new cases of coronavirus, taking the tally to 1,74,748. The death toll in the national capital rose to 4,444.
-RJV
