Andhra Government to begin sero-surveillance, here’s all you need to know

As part of a pilot project, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to carry out a sero-surveillance in the state. Andhra Pradesh has had a testing rate higher than the national average. As on July 24, the national average of per million testing stood at 11,123 while Andhra Pradesh had a per million testing of 28,876-several notches higher than the national average. 

With numbers on a surge, there may be a long way before the state manages to flatten the curve, but in a bid to stay ahead, the state has decided to start sero-surveillance in Krishna district’s Vijayawada urban mandal.

What is sero-surveillance? 

Until a vaccine or an assured treatment plan is not available, experts believe that the only way to prevent a further spike in infections or find out the actual data about exposure levels is to test the presence of antibodies in people. 

Sero-surveillance is a globally used and trusted standard which measures the levels of antibodies against a certain infection. It also decodes the percentage of the population which has been exposed to the virus in the past. This is considered the gold standard for measuring population immunity due to a past infection or vaccination. 

Sero surveillance is an important component of disease surveillance. Delhi had recently carried out a sero surveillance and it was found that at least 15-20% of the population had already been exposed, or were found immune to the deadly SARS-COV-2 virus.

How Andhra will carry out sero-surveillance:

Explaining details of sero-surveillance, Dr K Rambabu, General Physician and Professor of Medicine, who is also the state COVID-19 coordinator said, “Vijayawada urban mandal has a total of 64 wards. We have chosen 10% i.e. six, of the total number of wards. In every ward, there are two groups of people: a high risk group and the general population. Frontline workers like policemen, medical staff, bank staff vendors etc who are more vulnerable and exposed to the virus constitute the high risk group.

“Out of the six wards in Vijayawada urban mandal, 3600 samples will be taken. From each of the six wards, 200 samples from the high risk category and 400 samples from the general population will be taken. The total 3600 samples taken will give us an idea about spread of the virus and how prevalent antibodies are in the population,” Dr Rambabu explained. 

Why Vijayawada?

Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh surpassed the 5,000 mark on Saturday. In Vijayawada city, nearly 850 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the last five days. Vijayawada presently has 11 high-risk containment zones in the city. Experts feel that Vijaywada is on the road to recovery. 

The Vijayawada urban mandal, which is one of the 50 mandals in Krishna district, was chosen due to several reasons. Detailing the reasons, Dr K Rambabu said, “Vijayawada had already recorded quite a number of cases in the recent past and is on the road to recovery. The numbers are stabilizing. This is an urbanized area—highly populated with more cases reported—and hence quite a large number of  people who have already recovered from COVID-19. Soon, we will do the same in other districts as well.” 

The Andhra government is hoping to carry out the sero surveillance in a short span of time. “We want the results soon. As the number of samples being collected is small, it won’t take too many days to complete the collection. A review meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, final decisions will be taken in the meeting”, added Dr Rambabu.  

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