Serosurvey Round 2 to begin today

New Delhi: The Delhi government is all set to begin the first round of monthly Serological Surveys from Saturday, with the Health Department having prepared a detailed plan to cover all 11 districts in five days, involving the district medical officers in the surveys of their respective areas.

Officials have said that they plan to collect 15,000 samples across the Capital in what will be the second such survey conducted in the city. The first was conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control, which showed a prevalence rate of around 22 per cent — meaning 22 per cent of those surveyed had already been exposed to the novel Coronavirus.

A Central district official said that they were yet to receive instructions or orders from the Delhi government with respect to the survey but that the district administration would be prepared for it regardless.

A senior Delhi government official said that the survey would begin on Saturday in a select few districts. "The serosurvey will begin on Saturday in North district, North-West Delhi district, New Delhi district and South Delhi District. On Sunday, it will be in other districts." The official added that the Maulana Azad Medical College had been roped in for this Serological survey.

The health department has prepared a detailed plan under which every district medical officer has been asked to conduct the survey in their respective jurisdictions, an official said.

Meanwhile, the city on Friday reported 1,195 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally here to 1,35,598. However, total recoveries reached 1,20,930 with 1,206 COVID-19 patients reported to have recovered. The Delhi government said that 27 deaths had been added to the toll, taking total fatalities from the contagious disease here to 3,963.

The official health bulletin on Friday showed that Delhi currently had 10,705 active cases, of which 5,763 were recovering under home isolation. In addition, it said that 11,371 COVID-19 beds in the city were vacant and of the occupied COVID Care Centre beds, 4,252 were those taken up by people who arrived in Delhi on Vande Bharat missions and Bubble flights.

Furthermore, the Delhi government said that a total of 19,091 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, of which 5,629 were RT-PCR tests and 13,462 were Rapid Antigen tests. After the Delhi High Court noted that RT-PCR tests were declining in the city, the government here has been trying to increase its capacity to conduct these diagnostic tests.

As of Friday, the total number of containment zones in the city stood at 692 — less the 700 for the first time in a few weeks. This comes after the Health Department had on Thursday issued orders tweaking the

process of de-listing containment zones.