Jain holds meet to discuss sero-surveillance, hike in ICU beds

The Delhi government has planned to conduct more monthly surveys for sero-prevalence in the national capital and the next such exercise will be conducted from August 1-5. "The Delhi health minister took a meeting with senior officers of the health department to discuss sero-surveillance, enhancement of ICU beds, and other issues related to management of COVID-19," the heath department said in its bulletin on Friday.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday held a meeting to discuss sero-surveillance, enhancement of ICU beds, and other issues related to COVID-19 management, officials said. The Delhi government has planned to conduct more monthly surveys for sero-prevalence in the national capital and the next such exercise will be conducted from August 1-5.

"The Delhi health minister took a meeting with senior officers of the health department to discuss sero-surveillance, enhancement of ICU beds, and other issues related to management of COVID-19," the heath department said in its bulletin on Friday. Delhi recorded 1025 fresh coronavirus cases on Friday, taking the tally in the city to over 1.28 lakh, while the death toll from the disease rose to 3,777, authorities said.

Thirty-two fatalities have been recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the Delhi health department bulletin. The active cases tally on Friday was 13,681, down from 14,554, the previous day. Our of the total 15,475 COVID beds, 12,265 are vacant, the bulletin said.

Jain on Wednesday said that the Delhi government had decided to conduct more sero-prevalence surveys to formulate better policies for tackling the COVID-19 situation in the national capital. He said the decision was taken after analysing the results of the latest survey for sero-prevalence.

The sero-prevalence study was done by the Delhi government in association with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The study, conducted from June 27 to July 10 involved testing 21,387 samples, also indicated that a large number of infected persons remain asymptomatic, according to the Union health ministry.

The minister had said a strategy is being made for the next survey and more samples will be taken than in the previous exercise. A sero-surveillance survey involves testing of blood serum of individuals to check for the prevalence of antibodies against infection.