Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Dec 17: Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar today conducted ICMR National Sero-Survey for COVID-19 round-3 in Pulwama district in which the health care providers were also sampled.
In the third round, GMC said that the data will again be collected through app-based and blood samples will be taken to assess immunoglobulin-Gamma (Ig-G) against SARS-CoV-2 which will determine infection in recent past and the body’s immune response to the SARS CoV-2 infection.
Each selected site collects data and blood samples of 400 participants of children over 10 years and adult population and also shall include 100 health care workers in the district Pulwama.
A team from Government Medical College Srinagar comprising faculty, resident doctors and medical interns from Department of Community Medicine (SPM) are deputed by Dr Samia Rashid, principal/ dean, GMC Srinagar for conducting the survey in ICMR assigned ten clusters and selected sub-district hospitals in district Pulwama with the support of officers in the district.
“…ICMR Headquarter New Delhi, and its premier centres including National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), Chennai is providing support in training, guidance, testing, data management, analytics and logistics support,” Dr S. Muhammad Salim Khan, HOD Community Medicine, GMC Srinagar and nodal person of the survey said.
He said that in the first two rounds of ICMR serosurvey, the seroprevalence in district Pulwama was found to be 2% and 27.3% respectively while the recent study by GMC Srinagar in district Pulwama in October showed prevalence risen to 43.1% among the general population, highest among 10 districts in Kashmir division.
“This time the seroprevalence of SARS CoV-2 Infection is expected to be more than previous outcomes,” he said.