Study of sero-prevalence of COVID-19 virus infection launched in Dibrugarh

Staff Correspondent

DIBRUGARH: A study of sero-prevalence of COVID-19 virus infection in Dibrugarh district was launched here on Monday at a function held at the conference hall of the Dibrugarh DC's office.

This is the first time in Assam that a district administration, as part of special initiative by the Deputy Commissioner, is carrying out a serological survey to assess the prevalence of SARS CoV2 antibody in the district. The survey will be conducted by ICMR-RMRC, here in collaboration with the Health department and NHM, Dibrugarh. The survey will be funded by Oil India Limited, Duliajan, and will be monitored by Dibrugarh district administration.

Deputy Commissioner PallavGopalJha, while inaugurating the survey, said, "The survey will help to get an idea of sero prevalence among the population and based on the survey results, we can prepare ourselves in an equipped manner for the next phase to fight COVID-19. We have targeted to complete the study and prepare an analysis by the first week of January 2021 to know the status of COVID-19 spread in the district." He said that surveys of similar kind in other States have shown the actual number of COVID-19 infected people ten times more than the COVID-19 positive cases detected by the health department,

RMRC-ICMR (Scientist –E), Dr Biswajyoti Borkotoky termed it as a big step towards information gathering on COVID-19. "It will enable us to know the actual number of people already infected by the COVID-19 virus and help us to define how to move forward," he said Dr Borkotoky also stated that blood samples would be collected from people from 609 clusters of the district out of which 30 clusters would be from rural and rest 30 from urban areas of the district. Total 1,200 samples out of 15 lakh population of the district will be collected with 20 from each cluster,

AMCH Principal Dr. Sanjeeb Kakoti, who was also graced the function, said that the survey was going to unveil many facts related to prevalence of cases of COVID-19 as the district had seen very little COVID -19 positive cases from tea garden community and slum areas. The survey will reflect the actual picture of infection in the district. The occasion was also attended by Additional Deputy Commissioner Rajib Thapha and Dipu Kr. Deka, Joint Director, Health, DrKrishna Kemprai, and other health officers.

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