Uttar Pradesh’s health and family welfare department will conduct its first serological survey, also called sero survey, in the state to determine the prevalence of coronavirus infection among people. The survey will begin from Friday (August 28) across 12 districts of the state.

The districts include Bareilly, Meerut, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Baghpat and Agra.

Additional chief secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said the state health department, in coordination with King George’s Medical University (KGMU), had decided to carry out the survey.

Chief medical officers (CMOs) of these districts were directed to constitute teams to collect samples and send them to laboratories for test, Prasad said. The report of the survey is likely to be released in September, he added. The sero survey also involves testing of blood serum of a group of individuals to determine the presence of antibodies against the Sars-CoV-2 infection.

Dr Sudhir Singh, spokesperson for KGMU, said, “Our lab is ready for the sero survey testing. As soon as we start getting the samples, we will start testing.”

“KGMU in Lucknow has been chosen by the health department for conducting tests of the samples collected from different districts, including the state capital,” he said.

“We have been testing samples for Covid-19 on RT-PCR machines and the lab has been functioning here in the microbiology department since March. The staff is trained and equipment are ready,” Dr Singh said.

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Meanwhile, a separate sero survey is being conducted by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) across seven east and west UP districts, including Balrampur, Gonda, Mau, Unnao, Auraiya, Saharanpur and Gautam Buddh Nagar.

An ICMR officer said, “The sero survey by different teams of the premier institute in seven districts of UP is part of the nationwide surveillance. The collection of samples in these districts was completed on August 24 and the samples have been sent to laboratories for test. The data will be released by National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai in mid-September,” he said.

Earlier in May, the ICMR had conducted the sero survey in nine district – Amroha, Saharanpur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bareilly, Balrampur, Mau, Auriaya, Gonda and Unnao. Merely a percent of the population in the nine districts had the evidence of past exposure to Sars-CoV-2.

Previously, a sero survey was conducted during the lockdown when strict containment measures were in place to check the spread of the coronavirus infection. The second survey was conducted during the Unlock-3 phase when the central, as well as the state government, relaxed several restrictions, an ICMR officer said.

“Several activities have restarted. There is a large intra-state movement of people as well as across the state. The data of Covid-19 infection released by the state government clearly shows that there has been a spike in the infection in the urban hubs of Uttar Pradesh. The second sero survey conducted in Delhi found that 29.1 percent of the population has developed antibodies against Covid -19,” the officer added.

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“The second sero survey conducted by the ICMR in UP will give a clear picture of the spread of infection in UP,” the officer added.

A state health department official said while the ICMR was conducting the survey in the districts with a large rural population, the state health department was carrying out the survey in urban hubs of UP where the maximum spread of the infection was being reported.

“The sero surveys by the ICMR and the UP government will give an insight into the extent of Covid-19 infection. The state government can amend its containment plan accordingly,” he said.

It will be the first serological survey in Prayagraj and Kaushmabi districts covering 45 locations each, including randomly selected villages and municipal corporation wards under various local bodies and development blocks in these two districts. The exercise is aimed at testing a random section of the population for antibodies against the virus that causes the Covid-19 disease.

The officials plan to collect around 1,500 samples from each of the two districts during the survey. The 45 different villages/wards in Prayagraj have an overall population of around 24,986 persons, while those in Kaushambi have a population of around 16,076 as per the 2011 census.

The health department is likely to launch a sero survey of 3,240 people in Meerut, Baghpat and Ghaziabad districts of western Uttar Pradesh on Friday, the officials said.

Divisional surveillance officer Dr Ashok Taliyan explained the survey would help in knowing how many people had developed antibodies to the Sars-Cov-2 pathogen. He said the authorities in Lucknow had sent a list of 45 areas in each district selected for the survey. These areas have been divided into four parts. The survey would focus on six houses (families) in each part. Samples of 24 people (ageing between 19 to 59 years) would be collected from each part. A total of 1,080 samples would be collected in each district and the total number of samples for the three districts would be 3,240 samples.

In Meerut division, thirty-three teams of medical officers and other staff have been constituted for the survey in the three districts. Thirteen teams in Meerut and ten teams each in Bagpat and Ghaziabad have been constituted for the survey.

Dr Taliyan said the number of teams was likely to go up in Ghaziabad because it was a bigger district. Each team will comprise a medical officer, a lab technician, a lab assistant, an ANM (auxiliary nurse midwife) and Asha worker (accredited social health activist) of the area.

These three districts have so far reported 11,689 Covid-19 cases and 193 deaths. There are 1,888 active cases now. Baghpat has reported 828 Covid-19 cases and 16 deaths, Meerut has 3,464 cases and 110 deaths while Ghaziabad has reported 7,397 positive cases and 67 fatalities.

In Agra, 40 members, including 10 doctors, are being selected for the survey. Ten teams having four members each will be assigned the task. Chief medical officer (CMO) Dr RC Pandey said, each team will have a doctor, a lab technician, an Asha (accredited social health activist) worker and an ANM (auxiliary nurse midwife).”

“These 40 members would be trained by ICMR representatives after they reach Agra. The survey would be conducted as per the guidelines laid down by the ICMR,” Dr Pandey said. According to him, there are 45 locations which the team would visit for the survey in both rural and urban areas.

Varanasi is also geared up for sero survey. Ten teams have been constituted for the survey here, chief medical officer Dr VB Singh said.

The sero survey is part of a larger statewide exercise. It is expected to begin on August 28 to assess the extent of spread of the coronavirus infection among the population of the district. It will also gauge the percentage of the population that has developed antibodies against the disease.

Blood samples of the people in the age bracket of 18 and 59 years will be taken from various localities that will be randomly selected by the health teams. These teams will collect 240 samples from 10 different areas of the district and send them to Lucknow for examination.

Dr Singh said preparations for the survey had been completed. The travel history, occupation and age of people whose blood samples will be taken will also be recorded during the survey.

The findings from the survey would help develop plans for prevention of Covid-19 and its spread across the state. Blood samples of 24 people from six houses — four persons each from a house — will be taken.