SRINAGAR: Pulwama is among 70 districts selected by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for the fourth round of `National serosurvey for COVID-19’.
The survey will start this month and cover the same districts where the first three rounds were conducted. This survey will cover the general population aged six years and above and healthcare workers working in district hospitals.
“The findings of the serosurvey will help in ascertaining the current situation of COVID-l-9 situation in India. In Jammu and Kashmir, the survey will be conducted in Pulwama district through the Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Srinagar in the third week of June,” said Dr. Muhammad Salim Khan, Professor, and Head, Department of Community Medicine, GMC
In this regard, Dr. Salim said, a meeting was held with DC Pulwama Baseer-ul-Haq, CMO Pulwama Dr. Hassina Mir and District epidemiologist Dr. Syed Arshad to chalk out the plan as per ICMR guidelines.
“During the survey, 400 blood samples shall be collected across 10 designated clusters. Another 100 samples will be collected from health care providers in district Pulwama,” said Dr. Salim, who is also the Nodal Officer for Pulwama study.
In the last three rounds, the seroprevalence of SARS CoV-2 infection among the general population was found to be 2%, 27.3% and 31.5% respectively during May-June, August-September, and December.
“This fourth round has important significance due to widespread infection during the second COVID-19 wave and the vaccination drive against SARS CoV-2 infection among the adult population during last 4-5 months,” he said.
The study is coordinated by ICMR’s National Institute of Epidemiology and facilitated by National Institute of Research on Tuberculosis Chennai for Pulwama district.
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