BMC conducts sero-survey of media persons to determine COVID-19 exposure

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday once again conducted a fresh sero-survey of media persons to determine the exposure of novel Coronavirus among them as they are the frontline workers in the battle against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Civic Body has organized a special health camp at Kalyan Mandap, Saheed Nagar in the Capital City to conduct the serological survey which involves testing of blood serum to check for the prevalence of antibodies against coronavirus infection. More than 35 media personnel, including electronic and print media journalists, photographers and cameramen turned up to give their samples for test. The results will be conveyed to them later.

Began at 10 AM, those arriving for the tests were asked to fill up forms and provide personal medical history including any past ailments, etc before their swab samples were taken.
It was mandatory for everyone to arrive wearing masks. They also used sanitizers to clean hands and were asked to maintain social distancing while waiting for their turn to get the tests done. After their samples were taken, the BMC gave them 5 pieces of face masks.

Soon after the test, the media persons came for the test were also advised by the healthcare staff of BMC to continue practicing safety norms, wearing masks, practice social distancing and washing hands regularly while discharging their duty to keep the deadly virus at bay.

“We are very thankful to BMC for organizing such a health screening camp for media persons at a time when Covid cases are rising every day in Bhubaneswar. Today’s sero-survey camp was very well managed and more number of media personnel should take benefit of this special health check-up camp,” said Satya Narayan Routray, a journalist working with Odia daily Sambad.

Earlier, on July 22, the BMC had conducted rapid antigen test on 55 journalists working in Bhubaneswar. All of them had tested negative for COVID-19.

Notably, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had started the first serial serosurvey in Bhubaneswar on July 11. The exercise is being undertaken to ascertain whether there is any community transmission of Covid-19 in the Capital city along with the extent of the spread of the virus in the population.

What is sero-survey?

A sero-survey involves testing of blood serum of individuals to check for the prevalence of antibodies against infection. The test finds whether a person has already been infected by the COVID-19 virus.

For the survey, blood samples were collected from selected individuals after taking written informed consent and then tested for IgG antibodies and infection using COVID KAVACH ELISA approved by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).

Since SARS-CoV-2 is still being researched and understood, these tests help in understanding the progression of the disease.