Karnataka to estimate Coronavirus prevalence, immunity in population

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government will conduct a survey across the state to estimate the prevalence of Coronavirus and the proportion of population which has developed immunity against the virus, an official said on Friday.

"Karnataka will be conducting a survey across all districts to estimate the prevalence of Covid across the state and the proportion of persons who have developed immunity," said a health official.

Data from the survey is expected to guide the state government to make interventions for Coronavirus pandemic management. People above 18 in the 30 districts of the state as well as the eight zones of Bengaluru will be part of the survey.

In preparation for this survey, Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey inaugurated a training programme on Thursday for district surveillance officers, district tuberculosis officers, epidemiologists and personnel from the integrated counselling and testing centres under NACO.

To execute the survey, the state population has been divided into low risk, moderate risk and high risk categories. Samples in the low risk population will come from pregnant women at the antenatal care (ANC) clinics and people attending the outpatient department in hospitals and attendees of children and patients.

In the moderate risk population category, bus conductors, vegetable vendors, healthcare workers, individuals in containment zones and also individuals in meeting areas such as markets, malls, bus stops and railway stations will be covered.

Likewise, elderly people and persons with comorbidities will come under the high risk category. "Data for the survey will be collected using an app to register patients, update sample collection status and lab results," the official added. Karnataka's Covid tally crossed 2.5 lakh-mark on Thursday to reach 2,56,975 cases with 7,385 new cases.