Amid surfacing repeated iterations that Tamil Nadu hasn't reported the grounds of community transmission of COVID-19 spread, the Tamil Nadu government has planned to roll out the state-wide survey to ascertain the community spread and a clear picture of the viral infection in the state.

The framework of the survey has come when the state is going through the sixth phase of the lockdown. According to the reports, the Tamil Nadu Health Department has planned to conduct a State COVID-19 Sero Survey to understand the exposure of the viral infection in the communities. 

Dr. Selvavinayagam, who is the director of Public Health, said that the state serosurvey will test at least 25,000 people in each district using anti-body testing kits and the final outcome and results will aid the government in framing the policies for further management of containing the COVID-19 infection. He further stated that the department will be commencing the study soon. 

The antibody test is a blood test that determines whether someone has ever been a carrier or infected by the COVID-19 infection and the reports say that the state government would ascertain the grounds of exposure in the districts as most of the districts have been reporting soaring cases for the past few weeks amid the containment measures and restrictions. 

Along with other districts, Chennai, which has reported the most number of COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, would be carrying out the survey. The Greater Chennai Corporation would be collecting blood samples from at least 12,000 people from each ward in the city and through the study, the reports suggest, the civic body would be implementing the strategies to prevent the grounds of exposure. The reports added that the civic body has been working with the National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis and National Institute of Epidemiology to initiate a city specific sero study.

Tamil Nadu is currently testing the samples through RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription - Polymerase Chain Reaction) mechanism to diagnose the viral infection. However, the antibody test is a crucial mechanism to understand the proportion of the population exposed to the viral infection. 

While making back to back assertions that Tamil Nadu has no grounds of the community transmission, the Tamil Nadu Health Department has decided to carry out the survey as most of the districts outside Chennai has been reporting more cases. As of Thursday, Tamil Nadu has reported 1,56,369 cases so far of which 46,714 are active, 1,07,416 have been recovered, and 2,236 had succumbed to the virus.