About 21.5% Indians have Covid, majority still vulnerable to infection: Sero-survey

More than 21% of people above the age of 10 showed evidence of exposure to the Sars CoV-2 virus that causes covid-19, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR’s) third national seroprevalence survey. A large part of the population still remains vulnerable, the survey showed.

The prevalence of infection was found among 25.7% of healthcare workers, said ICMR director general Dr Balram Bhargava, while releasing the survey findings on Thursday. The latest survey was conducted before vaccination began, between 17 December 2020 and 8 January 2021.

“Overall seroprevalence is 21.5% of the population, which includes 31.7 % of urban slums, 26.2% of urban non-slum and 19.1% of rural areas. The proportion of infections in females was 22.7% and in males 20.3%. The infection proportion among children aged 10-17 years was found to be 25.3%,” said Bhargava.

The survey was carried out on a general population of 28,000 people and about 7,000 healthcare workers. It was conducted in the same 700 villages and wards in 70 districts of 21 states that were selected during the first and second rounds of sero survey held in May-June and August-September 2020 respectively, according to ICMR.

Serology tests look for antibodies in blood. Antibodies are proteins that can fight infections. If antibodies are found, it means there has been a previous infection.

“The overall picture of the current sero survey shows that even now the infection can spread to more than 75% of the people. Hence it is crucial to strictly follow covid-19 appropriate behaviour,” Dr V.K. Paul, member, NITI Aayog said.

Covid-19 cases in India continue to rise at a slower pace. Active cases are less than 160,000 and are declining, according to Union health ministry data. The recovery rate has crossed 97%, while the cumulative positivity rate, which is 5.42%, is also declining.

“Two states, Kerala and Maharashtra with 69,365 and 38,762 active cases, are contributing more than 70% cases in the country. Kerala accounts for 44.8% of these cases, Maharashtra’s share is 25%,” said Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan. Of the 10.7 million cases that have occurred in India till date, only 155,000 are active. The number of tests done till date stand at 199 million.