To gauge the impact of the third wave, the civic body will be conducting a serosurvey in the second week of July. This will include all age groups across 24 wards, following which meetings will be held and sample size will be decided. Civic officials said the main aim of the survey is to understand how many residents will be affected during the third Covid wave.
According to BMC officials, the survey will take place in all 24 wards. Blood samples of around 4,000 people will be collected from the 24 wards. In each ward, 150 samples will be collected for testing antibodies. Based on the results of the last four surveys, it is expected that in the third wave, the population living in slums and children will be most affected. “However, since more than 60% have at least got one dose of vaccine, this will help contain the virus,” said a senior official.
Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said that they have witnessed two waves in which more than seven lakh people have been infected since the pandemic. Moreover, 50% have been administered the first dose of vaccine.
“We need to know how many have been exposed to the virus already and what will be the impact of the third wave. This information, right down to the ward level, will help us plan strategies for the third wave that many experts have predicted,” he said. Vaccination plans for the public, too, can be drawn based on the serosurvey results.
The fourth serosurvey, which was conducted among the pediatric population showed about 50% with Covid antibodies.
The third serosurvey, which was conducted between February and March and covered 10,197 people, showed 36.3% of the population had antibodies. In slums, there was a sero positivity of 41.6%, while in other areas it was 28.5%.
