ICMR to undertake fourth nation-wide sero survey from June to asses COVID-19 spread: Health Ministry

The ICMR will start national-level sero surveys from June to assess the spread of COVID-19 and all states/UTs, the Union health ministry said on Friday.

Image used for representational purpose

New Delhi: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will begin the fourth national-level sero surveys to assess the spread of COVID-19 and all states/UTs. According to Niti Aayog, preparations for national sero survey are over and the would begin work for the next sero survey this month. 

"The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will conduct national sero surveys to assess the COVID-19 spread and states/UTs should also conduct them to get all geographies' information," Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

It would be the fourth sero survey and will begin in 70 districts across the country. It would include children aged 6 years and above. Apart from the general population, the ICMR officials would collect the blood samples of health care workers in district hospitals of 70 districts in 21 states.

The 21 states where the samples would be collected for the sero survey include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

The ministry also said that the novel coronavirus situation in the country appears to be stabilising, but urged people to continue following the appropriate behaviour and social distancing norms.

The ministry said almost 78 per cent decline in daily new COVID-19 cases has been noted in India since the highest reported peak in daily cases on May 7. It also said that there has been 74 per cent decrease in weekly COVID-19 positivity rate since the highest such rate was reported between April 30-May 6 at 21.6 per cent.

The Centre underlined that breaking the chain of transmission ensures lesser strain on the health infrastructure and better quality of care.

(With inputs from agencies)