The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Tuesday released the second national serosurvey report which indicates that one in every 15 individuals or 6% of the Indian population aged more than 10 years were exposed to the coronavirus by August end 2020.
In a press briefing on Covid-19 outbreak management, ICMR director-general Dr. Balram Bhargava said, that this result is based on testing the blood samples from 29,082 individuals in the same 70 districts were the first national serosurvey was conducted in May and June.
According to the ICMR report, the higher SARS_CoV_2 infections were more found in the urban slum and the non-slum areas than the rural areas.
“Since a large portion of the population is yet susceptible, prevention fatigue is to be avoided and 5T strategy (Test, Track, Trace, Treat & Technology) is to be adhered to,” said Dr. Bhargava ICMR.
Highlights of the week
✅51 lakh patients recovered, highest in the world
✅More than 7.30 crore tests conducted
✅77.8 lakh tests conducted last week
✅Considerable population still vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 reveals ICMR sero-prevalenceSecretary, @MoHFW_INDIA pic.twitter.com/BSw63yuc3D
— PIB India (@PIB_India) September 29, 2020
Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan pointed out a low percentage of the population had been exposed to the virus but he stressed that a “large chunk of the population is still susceptible to the pathogen.”
In the first serosurvey report that was conducted in May and June by the health research body, the seropositivity was found to be only 0.73% for every reported case out of 82 to 130 cases of possible infections.
According to the officials, the infection case ratio in August was lower as compared to May which shows a substantial increase in testing and detection across India.
While the first survey had tested only the adult population in 700 villages or wards in districts across 22 states, in the latest one, blood samples from those above 10 years of age were also collected to check for the antibodies against Covid-19.