Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday gave nod for the second sero survey to assess the spread of the COVID-19 in the state.
The survey will be conducted in a random sample of 4,800 people among the general population in the third week of November, with the results expected to be released by the end of the month.
At a virtual COVID review meeting, the chief minister agreed with health experts on the need to find the extent of the spread of SARS CoV-2 outside the containment zones, in contrast with the first sero survey that was conducted in five containment zones across five districts.
The first survey, conducted in one containment zone each in Patiala, SAS Nagar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar, had found 27.8 per cent sero prevalence.
The second survey will include a random sample of 120 clusters (60 villages and 60 urban wards) from 12 randomly selected districts, with 40 adults to be selected randomly from each cluster. ELISA test will be used to detect IgG antibodies in the blood specimen for the survey.
The sampling scheme and survey method have been adapted from ICMR sero-survey protocol.
According to the Union Ministry of Health, Punjab has 4,934 active cases, 1,28,727 cured/discharged/migrated patients and 4,338 deaths as of November 10.
( With inputs from ANI )
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