Sero Survey results communicated to the states

September 21, 2020

The Indian Council of Medical Research recently announced that the results of sero survey conducted in ten cities have been communicated with the states. The survey that was conducted earlier this month indicated that around 0.73% of adults have been affected with the virus.

Findings of the second survey

The second sero survey says that 15 to 48 percentage of the population in the containment zones in 10 hotspot cities were exposed to COVID-19 infection.

Key Findings of the first survey

  • Around 6.4 million samples were collected by the Indian Council of Medical Research for the first sero survey. The survey says that the worst affected were those between the age of 18 and 45 years. Around 43.3 percentage of individuals in this age group had developed antibodies against COVID-19. In the case of patients, in the age group between 46 and 60 years of age, around 39.5 percentage have developed antibodies.
  • The survey had been conducted in 30,283 households. Around 20,000 individuals were enrolled for the study.
  • Males in urban slum had high risk of exposure to the virus according to the survey. A total of 0.5% of individuals were reported to have contact history of COVID-19. Around 0.3% had tested positive before the survey.
  • More than 51% in Pune tested positive for COVID-19. In Mumbai around 40 % of the sampled group very infected.

About the survey

Around 400 adults per district were enrolled in the survey. The samples were tested for Immunoglobulin G. It is a type of long-lasting antibody and is used in COVID-19 Kavach ELISA detection test.

Need of the hour

In spite of big increase in number of tests being held, India needs to increase its testing capacity. This is because greater the number of test greater the chance of detecting the infected people. This includes asymptomatic patients as well. This will help in timely isolation of patients to prevent transmission to other people.

Key takeaways

The sero survey confirms that most of the COVID-19 infected patients are asymptomatic. The testing infrastructure in the country has improved and upgraded greatly. From a capacity to test a few hundred samples in March 2020 India is now equipped to test more than 8 lakh samples a day.

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