Sero survey to test for Covid-19 local spread in Belagavi from Tuesday

An antibody test will tell whether an individual has been infected in the past or not.

On Saturday alone, the city reported 312 cases. To establish whether there is a community prevalence of the infection and to assess the extent of the spread, the state government is planning to launch a sero survey from Tuesday, Similar survey was conducted in other cities as well.

Sample criteria: Above 18, corona warriors, doctors, vegetable vendors, Transport dept employees and pregnant women.

Dr. Giridhar Babu, a member of the state Covid-19 technical advisory committee, is the principal investigator.

A serosurvey involves testing of blood serum of a group of individuals and this will be used to monitor trends in the prevalence of the novel coronavirus, or SARS-COV-2, infection at the district level.

The survey will be done among moderate, and high-risk groups. This is to find out the changing trends of the infection and whether the community prevalence of the infection is high or low.

An antibody test will tell whether an individual has been infected in the past or not and whether Immunoglobulin G (IgG) is present. The first set of antibodies that the body produces is IgM in response to initial exposure to an antigen.

If a person has IgG, and another person has only antigen but no antibodies, we can tell that among 100 tested, 50 already had the infection and another 50 have the acute infection now. So in one go, we get to know the total extent of the infection burden, both past and current. In this way, this study is unique and is also the largest study done so far since the start of the pandemic

If the sero prevalence is low, more beds would be needed in the days to come. If it is as high as 30%, then the epidemic is already at its peak and we are towards the receding phase until the next wave hits.