Around 499 samples were collected from four districts on the first day of Sero-surveillance which is an ongoing survey undertaken by the Manipur government since November 30, as a measure to identify COVID-19 status of the state.
Speaking exclusively to the Imphal Free Press, state surveillance officer, Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, directorate of Health Services Dr Somorjit Ningombam said that the surveillance was kicked off from November 30 as decided by the government. It was carried out in collaboration with the help of the district surveillance officer concerned, he said.
The surveillance was started in four districts already identified by the government, namely Kakching, Imphal West, Ukhrul and Churuchandpur, he added.
He mentioned that in Imphal West, the surveillance began only at Thangmeiband where 53 samples were collected. For Kakching districts, it was conducted in Hiyanglam Warkhong where 76 samples were collected, he said. At Kakching Wairi Kongoi Pareng, 78 samples were collected. From Kakching Ningthou, 78 samples were collected while 96 samples were collected from Wangoo, he added.
From Ukhrul district, 46 samples were collected from one place while 92 samples were collected from two places in Churachandpur district, he added.
He also stated that the surveillance is an on-going process which will continue till December 19. As such, the number of collected samples will be changed from time to time until the survey concludes, he added.
Somorjit further said that the Directorate of Health will analyse the collected samples with the department of Community Medicine, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) and the findings will be declared.
It may be mentioned that altogether 4,600 samples will be collected from said four districts. Of which, 920 each will be collected from hill districts such as Churachandpur and Ukhrul while the 1,380 samples each will be collected from valley districts of Kakching and Imphal West.
The survey will be carried out by as many as 12 teams which consist of five members.
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