The findings of the second country-wide serological survey, conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), were announced on 29 September.
The survey was carried out from 17 August to 22 September in the same 700 villages or wards from 70 districts in 21 states as the first sero-survey.
The difference in the second leg was that the antibody testing net was cast wider to include the section of population aged 10-18 years. The first sero-survey, conducted between 11 May and 4 June, had tested adults only.
The idea behind a sero-survey is to determine the prevalence of infection — in this case SARS-CoV-2 infection — in the population. Generally, a series of sero-surveys in the same areas is required to make any statements about how the infection is progressing.
In the first survey, 0.73 per cent of the population were estimated to have been infected. The second survey, with 29,082 individual participants, has registered 6.6 per cent prevalence for persons aged over 10 years and 7.1 per cent for adults.
What this means is that one in 15 individuals aged over 10 years were exposed to the virus as of last month.
The infection prevalence was found to be higher in the urban slum (15.6 per cent) and non-slum (8.2 per cent) areas than in the rural areas (4.4 per cent). And there was no difference in infections with respect to gender.
#ICMR #SeroSurvey #COVID19
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