27.7% in containment zones exposed to Covid
Punjab’s 1st survey was conducted in 5 zones from Aug. 1 to 17
Chandigarh, Aug. 20: Antibodies against the Covid-19 infection have been found in 27.7 per cent of people in Punjab’s containment zones, according to the findings of a serosurvey.
This was Punjab’s first exclusive survey and was conducted in five containment zones from August 1 to 17 among a systematically selected random sample population of 1,250 people. There were earlier surveys, but they were more generalised and conducted by the state government in coordination with the Indian Council of Medical Research, according to a government statement issued here.
The latest survey’s findings were submitted to chief minister Amarinder Singh at a Covid review meeting on Thursday. “A total of 27.7 per cent of the people in Punjab’’s containment zones are found to be positive for Covid antibodies, indicating that they have already been infected and have recovered from the coronavirus,” as per the serosurvey’s findings.
The findings showed that the Sars-CoV2 (Covid-19) antibodies’ prevalence in the containment zones to be the highest at 40 per cent in Amritsar district, followed by 35.6 per cent in Ludhiana, 33.2 per cent in SAS Nagar, 19.2 per cent in Patiala and 10.8 per cent in Jalandhar district.
The survey report came on a day when Delhi released its second serosurvey findings, which showed that antibodies against the Covid-19 infection have been found in 29.1 per cent of people in the national capital.
For the latest Punjab serosurvey, one containment zone each was selected in Patiala, SAS Nagar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar districts. These zones had reported a high number of Covid cases. The sample size was 250 people from each zone, and from each of the selected households, one person above the age of 18 was randomly chosen for the survey.
Overall, the sero- prevalence of Sars CoV-2 antibodies was found to be 27.7 per cent in the containment zones where the highest number of Covid19 cases had been reported. The survey was aimed at finding out the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies using Rapid Antibody testing kits.