An analysis of 270,000 antibody tests conducted by Thyrocare across India showed that at least one in four Indians may have been infected with the Covid-19. This number is much higher than what has been revealed by the official figures released by the government.
Dr. A. Velumani, head of Thyrocare says to a leading news agency, “This is a much higher percentage than we had expected. The presence of antibodies is uniform across all age groups, including children”.
In fact, if the current trend of infections-recoveries continues, 40% of India’s population will have antibodies against coronavirus, Dr. Velumani projected.
Thyrocare conducted antibody tests on 2,70,000 patients across India, and found presence of antibodies in an average of 26% of the cases.
This figure is closer to the findings of the government surveys done in Mumbai. This survey showed that 57 per cent of the population in its crowded slum areas had been exposed to the coronavirus.
The Thyrocare survey covers paid and tested patients, covering 600 cities in India for the last seven weeks.
Random testing of some 7,000 people in Mumbai slums were conducted in the last week of July. More than half the residents of slums tested positive for antibodies to the coronavirus in the survey.
Compare to this, more than 80% of people living outside slums had not developed antibodies, the same survey showed.
The survey was conducted jointly by the NITI Aayog, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. and the city’s municipality.
It found that 57% of the people tested in slum areas of Chembur, Matunga and Dahisar had been exposed to the novel coronavirus.
City-wide surveys in other big cites across the world have thrown up different resultts.
One of every six London residents tested positive for antibodies, while one in five in New York City developed antibodies. This was confirmed by a surveyes conducted in May and July respectively.
Survey done by the Delgi Government in July that nearly one in four residents in India’s capital had been exposed to Covid-19.
