Covid focus on those aged ten and above, now

The Covid focus has shifted to the young and the very young with the ICMR’s latest survey revealing that over 21 per cent of the population, aged 10 years and above, has showed evidence of exposure to the virus.

These are the findings of the latest national sero survey, which notes that a large proportion of the population is still vulnerable.

The ICMR’s 3rd national serosurvey was conducted between December 7 last year and January 8. Presenting the findings, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said 21.4 per cent of the 28,589 people, aged 18 years and above, surveyed during the period, showed evidence of past exposure to the coronavirus infection.

On the other hand, 25.3 per cent of children aged 10 to 17 years from the same number of surveyed population have had the disease, he said.

Urban slums (31.7 per cent) and urban non-slums (26.2 per cent) had a higher SARSCoV-2 prevalence than that

in rural areas (19.1 per cent), Bhargava said, adding that 23.4 per cent of individuals above 60 years of age had suffered from COVID-19. Blood samples of 7,171 healthcare workers were also collected during the same period and the sero-prevalence was found to be 25.7 per cent, the ICMR director general said. The sero-prevalence means the presence of antibodies against COVID-19 in the population.