ICMR-NIN to begin sero survey in Telangana today

Telangana: In a research on the spread of Omicron, the new variant of coronavirus, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) will launch sero-prevalence survey today in Telangana.

The officials will collect the blood samples from people and health care workers in every district and examine SARS Cov-2, IgG antibodies to assess the extent of community spread of the infection.

The door-to-door survey will cover 330 villages in all the districts in the state. According to Dr Avula Laxmaiah, Scientist and Head, Public Health Nutrition Division, ICMR-NIN, the survey will cover 16,000 people. "10 villages will be selected randomly from all the 33 districts and from each village, the samples of 40 people above six years of age will be taken," he said.

ICMR-NIN director Dr Hemalatha said that 20 teams will hold the survey in Telangana and will be completed in three weeks.