BMC appeals to people to take part in sero-surveillance

Amid the massive spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai, the city's civic body has appealed to the citizens to take part in the sero-surveillance that would help monitor the spread of Covid-19.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is conducting the survey along with the NITI Aayog and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).

"While RT-PCR is a gold standard as far as Covid-19 detection is concerned, sero-surveillance helps detect presence of antibodies. This is basically done to identity the individuals who have previously been infected by the virus and now have recovered," said Dr Suhas Pingle, chairman, action committee, Indian Medical Council.

“The survey is done by collection of blood samples from individuals in randomly selected households. The presence of antibodies in the blood is a sign of exposure to the virus," added Dr Pingle.

Three wards - M/West, F/North and R/North - that contribute to over 10 per cent cases in the city, spread over the twin districts of Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban, have been selected.

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While the F/North ward covers Matunga, Sion and Wadala areas, M/West includes Chembur and Tilak Nagar, and R/North comprises Dahisar and Mandapeshwar.

The selected areas covers slums and high-rises, different demography and diverse geographical locations.

The officials said that in slum areas, the response to the survey has been very good but in the other areas, the co-operation was low. There has also been resistance in some places, they said.

"The survey was launched last week. A total of 10,000 samples are to be collected but so far only 2,000 samples have been collected," BMC officials said.

"It is a scientific study for the common good and people's participation is a must," officials said.

"The information gathered from the sero-surveillance will not only provide information about new coronavirus patients, but will also give information about how far the coronavirus infection has spread,” said BMC's additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani.

According to BMC officials, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had urged all states to take up independent sero-surveys in the community to understand the spread of the virus.

"Monitoring the extent of exposure across populations and geographical locations is critical and hence the study uses scientifically designed random sampling methods. Our repeat serological survey will be critical for the informed policy decisions and could also provide information about risk factors such as co-morbidities, age and gender specific susceptibility," said Prof Ulhas Kolthur of the TIFR.