Covid-19: Key highlights of second sero-survey findings

As per the findings, a considerable population still vulnerable to Covid-19 which has killed over 96,300 people across the country.

The Indian Medical Research Council released the findings of the second nationwide sero-survey on Tuesday. During the briefing, ICMR’s Director General Balram Bhargava said that the objective of the survey was to estimate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among individuals aged 10 years and above.

As per the findings, a considerable population still vulnerable to Covid-19 which has killed over 96,300 people across the country.

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Sero survey is done by analysing blood samples of selected individuals for antibodies against Covid-19. It determines if a person has already been infected and recovered, considering a majority of patients do not exhibit symptoms and not everyone is getting tested for the viral infection.

Here are the key findings of the second sero-survey:

- Among the 29,082 people (aged 10 and above) surveyed from August 17 to September 22, 6.6% (aged 10 and above) showed evidence of past exposure to Covid-19 . While 7.1 per cent of the adult population (aged 18 and above) also showed evidence of past exposure to it.

- One in 15 individuals aged 10 years and above were estimated to be exposed to Covid-19 by August 2020, showing that a considerable population is still susceptible to Covid-19.

- It was found that urban slum (15.6 per cent) and non-slum (8.2 per cent) areas had higher Covid-19 infection prevalence than that of rural areas (4.4 per cent).

- The survey also revealed that lower infection to case ratio in August compared to May reflects a substantial increase in testing and detection across India.

- The ICMR Director-General said that lockdown and containment and behaviour change at the population level has effectively checked the potential spread of the deadly virus.

(With inputs from agencies)