The Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) here on Monday began a State-wide Covid-19 Sero Survey to estimate and compare the age-specific prevalence of antibodies in general population and healthcare workers.

The survey would continue till September 20. Earlier, Sero Surveys included only those aged above 18 years. It is the first State-level Sero survey after expansion of the vaccination drive. “As decisions on opening of educational institutions and targeting the last mile in immunisation need to be made in near future, it is crucial to generate evidence on exposure of children and adolescents, the unvaccinated group, to the pandemic and assess the persistence of immunity among the vaccinated group, particularly the healthcare workers,” said the RMRC.

Vaccination coverage against Covid-19 among general population and healthcare workers will also be estimated through this survey,” added the RMRC.

So far, the State has administered 2,18,96,568 doses of Covid vaccine.  While 1,65,99,673 beneficiaries have been administered with first dose and 52,96,895 received second dose.

The survey would be conducted in Khordha, Puri, Jajpur, Mayurbhanj and Baleswar, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Sundargarh  Kandhamal, Kalahandi and Nabarangpur districts.

A total of 40 samples from the community (randomly) and 100 from the healthcare workers (purposively) will be collected from 137 clusters distributed over the 12 districts. Altogether 6,680 samples (1,200 from healthcare workers and 5,480 from community) will be collected. Of the 5,480 targeted samples, 1,644 will be collected from children aged between six and 17 years and 3,836 from adults. Six teams have been deployed to carry out the survey simultaneously in each zone. The samples would be transported and processed for estimation of antibody against the virus at the RMRC, Bhubaneswar.