By Ishwar Chandra Jha, Kathmandu, Sept. 8: The Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) is all set to examine the state of COVID-19 spread in the community by using the 'seroprevalence' method.

The public health experts have been claiming that the novel coronavirus has already entered the community. But the MoHP, on the other hand, has been stating that the virus has spread in the community only in clusters.

According to the health ministry, the National Health Research Council (NHRC) has been investigating the community spread of COVID-19 in the Kathmandu Valley while the Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) has been examining the state of virus spread in all seven states.

Dr. Pradeep Gyawali, member secretary of the NHRC, said that seroprevalence would be conducted among those who are in risk of being infected with the novel coronavirus in the Kathmandu Valley within two days.

The frontline workers will be prioritised for seroprevalence.

Dr. Gyawali said, "Some 785 samples will be collected from the Kathmandu Valley. The seroprevalence study will take around two months to complete."

In the study which is carried out through ECLIA method, the blood sample will be collected four times. "On the first week, blood samples of frontline health workers will be collected. Likewise, in the second week, blood samples of their family members will be collected. On the third week and sixth week, the sample of the frontline health workers will be collected again," said Dr. Gyawali.

The study of the collected samples will reveal if the frontline health workers were infected with SARS-CoV-2 or not. The pattern of the spread of the virus will also be ascertained through it.

The COVID-19 patients who were infected again after recovering from will also be collected in this method.

The EDCD will mobilise human resources and other necessary equipment in all seven States to conduct the seroprevalence study.

Dr. Basudev Pandey, chief of the EDCD, said that it would take 2-3 weeks to arrange all the equipment and manage the human resources.

It will take over two weeks to provide training to the health workers to identify and collect the samples, said Dr. Pandey.

The number of blood samples that are to be collected will be determined on the basis of the population of State, geography and constituencies among others.

Prior to this, the MoHP had been collecting swab samples for the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test to ascertain the state of COVID-19 in the community.

The PCR test will be given continuity to identify those who have been infected with the virus. However, the blood samples will also be collected for seroprevalence.

Many countries including the United States of America and Australia have used the seroprevalence method to identify the community spread of the novel coronavirus.

Dr. Gyawali said that the findings of sero-prevalence method would help in contemplating the status and spread of the virus in the upcoming days.