MINSK, 29 January (BelTA) - A seroepidemiological study on the prevalence of COVID infection in the population will be conducted in Belarus, Vyacheslav Grankov, Program Coordinator for Communicable Diseases of the WHO Country Office in Belarus, told reporters, BelTA has learned.
"In the near future, Belarus will conduct, with the support of the World Health Organization, a big epidemiological study to identify the proportion of the population with antibodies in the blood," Vyacheslav Grankov said.
The study will be running within a few months. "We will be able to see the dynamics of how the prevalence of the infection is changing," he said.
According to the protocol, the seroepidemiological study will sample 5,000 people: more than 4,000 general population and the rest are medical workers. The study will cover all regions. Vyacheslav Grankov stressed that participation is voluntary. “The study will be open to people of different ages, because we need this sample to be as accurate as possible,” he said. Local healthcare facilities are responsible for selecting study participants.
The study will kick off in Q1 2021. “This long study will help us to see the prevalence of the infection at a certain point, how it changes over time, and how it spreads,” he said.
