India’s Covid-19 case surge has crossed the 70,000-mark with up to 70756 confirmed cases being reported on May 12. Of these, up to 22,455 (32 per cent) were reported to have recovered, according to the data provided by Ministry of Health. Another 2,293 persons have died since the outbreak.
The doubling time for Covid-19 cases is nearly 12 days, which means the reported cases doubled over this time. On May 1, 35,365 confirmed cases were reported which nearly doubled to 70,756 cases on May 12.
While Maharashtra has recorded over 20000 cases, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have recorded over 8000 cases, with Delhi following close on their heels with over 7000 cases, and Madhya Pradesh is inching towards 4,000 cases, while Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh record over 3,000 cases each. Both Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have recorded over 2,000 cases, while Punjab and Telangana are on the range of over 1,000.
As the cases cross 70,000-mark, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has stated that it will start a door-to-door survey covering a population of 24000 adults in up to 69 districts of 21 states to check for the prevalence of the virus in the community. Of this population, blood samples from 400 randomly selected individuals (one per household) from up to ten clusters in each district will be collected, the ICMR survey protocol states.
“Blood serum samples of these individuals will be tested for the presence of IgG antibodies using ELISA test developed by the National Institute of Virology in Pune. The results will provide information about the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection in different parts of the country,” an ICMR spokesperson said.
The community survey is over and above the hospital level surveillance initiated by Ministry of Health to monitor the infection trends which entails collecting 800 samples every month at district level from outpatients, pregnant women and healthcare workers and testing them for Covid-19.
In high burden states with high mortality rates like Maharashtra, the survey will be initiated in Beed, Nanded, Parbhani, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar and Sangli. In Gujarat, districts of Mahisagar, Narmada and Sabar Kantha have been chosen. In Madhya Pradesh, samples will be drawn from Dewas, Ujjain and Gwalior.
The community survey is being initiated mostly in those districts which have reported a lesser number of cases, as those districts which are reporting high case load are under testing surveillance already. However, major cities like Bengaluru in Karnataka, Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Kolkata in West Bengal have also been included in the survey, according to the list drawn up by ICMR.