GUWAHATI: Assam on Sunday launched its first ever serological survey in a bid to map and understand the spread of the novel coronavirus in the state.
Srijanasom, a non-governmental organisation, has taken the lead in carrying out the population-based cross sectional study – “Assessment of Anti-SARSCoV2 Seroprevalence in Habitants of Assam” – in association with the Medicity Guwahati Group of Clinic and Diagnostics.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had in May advised states to conduct serological surveys to measure the coronavirus exposure in the population using IgG Elisa Test (antibody test).
A serological survey seeks to assess the prevalence of disease in a population by detecting the presence of specific antibodies against the virus.
The launch here was graced by minister of state for health and family welfare, Pijush Hazarika along with National Health Mission, Assam managing director, S. Laxmanan and Indian Revenue Service officer from the state, Padmapani Bora who has been instrumental in carrying out the study.
A serological test is performed to diagnose infections can also be conducted to check if a person has developed immunity to certain diseases.
Speaking on the occasion, Hazarika thanked IRS officer Bora and Srijanasom for the efforts in making the study possible in Assam, much ahead of several other states.
Mridusmita Das, managing trustee of the NGO, said the study would help gauge the distribution of COVID-19 infections, which might have been missed by the currently applied testing strategy and method; the extent of immunity of the population of Assam to this infection, and hence the transmission.
IRS officer Bora said he was happy to contribute in the fight against COVID-19 by way of carrying out the survey in Assam to estimate COVID antibodies.
He further said the study would help estimate immunity levels developed by various groups of population against corona virus and take further specific containment measures.
