The Kerala Health Department will conduct a COVID-19 density study to understand the possibility of a fresh virus wave from a new coronovirus strain and also to put in place an appropriate preventive strategy.
This was announced by Health Minister K K Shailaja in an official release on Sunday. The main objective of the study is to look for the presence of Sars-CoV-2 antibodies in people, especially in the most vulnerable sections.
"The study would help in throwing light on the possibility of another stage of virus outbreak, taking preparatory steps and devising new policy initiatives," the minister said.
The COVID-19 density study will be done under the supervision of the Health Department additional director and the nodal officer of the PEID Cell in Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. At the district level, the district surveillance officer would coordinate the study. Taluk hospoital superintendents would lead the study in the respective study zones.
The district surveillance officer will draw up a list of local bodies and police stations and pick five units from each of these in each district for the study. The study will then be done on 12 people picked up from each of these selected units, police stations and local bodies.
The plan is to conduct the study on 12,100 individuals in Kerala above the age of 18. At least 350 samples will be subjected to study in each district. Apart from this, 240 samples would also be taken from high-risk groups like COVID-19 volunteers and health workers in a district.
The samples would be collected from both urban and rural areas. The minister said informed consent of the participants would be taken before samples are collected.
In addition to these, 5000-odd blood samples would be taken from labs and blood banks across the state.
The minister said in May 2020, the COVID-19 spread in the country's adult population was 0.73 per cent. However, figures between August and September showed that the virus had spread to 7.1 per cent of the adult population in the country.
Here is the test positivity rate for various groups in Kerala. Symptomatic health workers - 20 per cent. Asymptomatic high-risk groups - 10.5 per cent. Those who had been subjected to surgery but asymptomatic - 3.2 per cent. Those who had come for direct testing - 8.3 per cent.
