One in 5 Indians exposed to virus

NEW DELHI: At least one in five (21%) Indians above the age of 18 years has been exposed to the coronavirus, according to Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) third nationwide sero survey that tested samples from 28,589 people for antibodies between December 17, 2020 and January 8, 2021. Among health care workers, the seroprevalence was 25.7%.

The numbers represent a sharp jump from the previous rounds — the second sero survey (conducted in May-june 2020) showed 6.6% seroprevalence, while the first one (August-september, 2020) showed overall prevalence of 0.73%. A serological test is to detect whether a person has antibodies to the Sars-cov-2, which would indicate a past infection.

Experts said the findings of the report show that a large proportion of the country – nearly 80% – remains susceptible to the virus.

In children between the ages of 10 and 17, the prevalence was 25.3%, and people above the age of 60 showed a prevalence of 23.4%, the report showed. In the general population, the prevalence was higher in urban slums (31.7%), followed by nonurban slums (26.2%), and rural areas (19.1%). More women had antibodies compared to men, with a prevalence rate of 22.7% and 20.3% respectively.

In the general population, 28,589 individuals were tested for antibodies against Sarscov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Additionally, 7,171 health care workers were also covered. Doctors and nurses were affected the most with a seroprevalence of 26.6%, followed by paramedical staff (25.4%) and field staff (25.3%).