Only 21.5% Indians have antibodies against Corona - ICMR

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In the third national serosurvey conducted by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) only 21.5% of India’s total population shows the presence of antibodies Corona virus disease.

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In the findings released on 4th February, serosurvey showed that one out of five Indians was infected with Corona virus. Serosurvey shows true prevalence of infections that includes both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases.

In the first national serosurvey (May-June), seroprevalence was found to be 0.7% and in the second survey conducted in August-September the seroprevalence was 7%. In the third round of survey samples were collected from 28,589 individuals in 70 districts across 21 states.

Containment zones were excluded in the second survey and its presence in third survey is unknown.

Delhi conducted its own fifth round of serosurvey. It was not part of the national serosurvey. It showed the seropositivity of 56%.

Among children (10 to 17 years) the seroprevalence was 25.3%.

Among those above 45 years the seroprevalence was 23.4%.

Rural Area- 19.1%

Urban non-slum area- 26.2%

Urban slum area- 31.7%

Women – 22.7%

Men- 20.3%

The survey did not express the impact of antibodies acquired through vaccination as samples were collected before the drive of vaccination began.

The survey highlights that a large part of the population can easily be exposed to infection so the guidelines of wearing mask, maintaining social distance, washing hands, etc cannot be ignored.