Gurugram: Initial trends of the Serological survey being conducted in many parts of Gurugram show that the city has a six per cent prevalence rate of COVID-19 among residents in the district. So far, 450 samples have been collected for the serosurvey and an analysis of 360 samples show that 24 had tested positive with the ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) — which means that their bodies had produced
antibodies to fight the contagious disease.
A list of these 24 people included two drivers (private), five health workers, two policemen, four sanitation workers, one vendor, a relative of a COVID-19 patient, one resident from a COVID hot spot, one journalist, one industrial worker, one resident from a rural area and five shopkeepers. Most of these samples were taken from COVID-19 hotspot areas of Dundahera, Sirhaul, Patel Nagar and Pataudi.
Top officials from the Gurugram District Administration have expressed satisfaction over the present trends and said that the spread of novel Coronavirus has still not been much in the communities of Gurugram.
However, the sample size is currently still too small to be representational of the entire city's population.
Officials here added that they will be getting 2,000 more Sero surveillance kits. They said that while they will focus on high-risk zones, they will also take randomised samples from other parts of the city. Plans are afoot to facilitate 400 serological survey tests every month, they said.
"We are conducting more testing in several areas of the Gurugram so that we can quickly trace the people and in turn prevent the spread of the virus," said Dr Virender Yadav, Chief Medical Officer of the Gurugram Health Department.
The officials of the District Health Department have warned that cases might surge in the coming days as testing is increased. So far, 10 areas have been classified as large outbreak regions. "We should not be worried about this as our main objective is to detect a large number of cases at the earliest so that they can be isolated and we are successful in containing the spread of the virus," the CMO added.