The third serosurvey of the Indian Council of Medical Research shows evidence that over 21 percent of India’s population, aged ten years and above, have past exposure to coronavirus, said government officials on Thursday, 4 February to PTI. The survey revealed that a large number of people are still vulnerable to being infected.
The serosurvey was conducted between 7 December and 8 January in 700 villages from 70 districts, in 21 states across India, same as the earlier two serosurveys, under ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava.
Bhargava stated on Thursday, “21.4 percent of the 28,589 people, aged 18 years and above, surveyed during the period showed evidence of past exposure to coronavirus. While 25.3 percent children aged 10 to 17 years from the same number of surveyed population have had the disease,” quoted PTI.
Senior citizens, aged over 60 years had a 23.4 percent prevalence of contracting coronavirus, added the ICMR chief.
Urban slum dwellers had a higher chance of contracting COVID-19, with 31.7 percent in contrast to urban non-slums, which is 26.2 percent, said Bhargava to PTI.
The seroprevalence of COVID for health workers was found to be 25.7 percent, as indicated from blood samples of 7,171 healthcare workers. “Statistically it was not different between doctors, nurses, field staff and paramedics, but it was the highest among doctors and nurses, with 26.6 percent, as against the administrative staff, which was 24.9 percent,” said Bhargava, according to Times of India.
The second dose of vaccines will be administered to healthcare workers on 13 February said a Niti Ayog member to Times of India.
India reports 12,899 new COVID-19 cases, 17,824 discharges, and 107 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the Union health ministry.
Delhi’s Serosurvey Results
The fifth round of seroprevalence survey conducted in Delhi showed that 56 percent of the people who were surveyed have developed antibodies against COVID-19, said Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday.
He added that we should still be following COVID protocol and that, “We should not get into discussions over herd immunity.”
“This was the largest survey in any state involving around 28,000 samples conducted from January 15 to 23. Delhi has largely won over COVID-19, though we should continue to practice COVID-appropriate behaviour.”Satyendar Jain, Delhi Health Minister
The survey results showed that Delhi’s north district had the lowest seroprevalence - or the number of people with antibodies, which was 49 percent. Meanwhile, the southeast district had the highest at 62.18 percent.
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