According to the seroprevalence study, Bogotá and Medellín cannot lower their guard: Duque

In the last week the National Government has been insisting that the number of positive COVID-19 cases that is recorded daily is not the most accurate indicator to define the public health situation that crosses the country, as it increases with the number of tests applied, which also grows every month. Instead, he asked to review other indices such as positivity and seroprevalence.

The last one is perhaps one of the most important, since it is the one that gives account of the percentage of the population of a territory has been infected with a disease such as the new coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 in Colombia, for this particular case. This is a study that also allows us to observe how the virus behaves in a certain geographical space.

In the same way, This December 21, the preliminary results of the seroprevalence study of the National Institute of Health in Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cúcuta and Villavicencio were known. This report even takes into account the asymptomatic infected and is based on blood tests that detect antibodies in a representative number of the national population.

“With this information we can project the contagion curves in the country,” explained Luis Alexander Moscoso Osorio, Vice Minister of Public Health and Service Provision, adding that to carry out these studies at least $ 20 billion has been invested.

Thanks to this it was learned that the 26 percent of the participants analyzed and surveyed in Bogotá showed antibodies corresponding to those of covid-19, which implies that one in three inhabitants of the capital could have been infected in the last seven months. That is equivalent to 2,029,250 infections that contrast with 430,198 of those that have been tested so far in the city.

Similar case is presented in Bucaramanga and Cúcuta, which show rates of 28 percent (with an interval between 26 and 30 percent) and 30 percent (with an interval of between 27 and 32 percent), respectively, and that are equivalent to 167,248 and 224,684 infected people.

Then there is Villavicencio, where, according to the INS, seroprevalence levels of 35 percent are registered, which means that 175,716 out of 502,047 inhabitants were infected at some point. In all cases, the Institute added, said number of people could have developed some kind of antibody in the blood that now helps them defend themselves and build herd immunity.

In the same way, the registered results of the cities that had already been sampled and published last month were recalled: Leticia with indices of 60 percent equivalent to 21,115 of 35,191 inhabitants; Barranquilla with 55 percent, which means that 700,505 of 1,273,646 inhabitants have had the disease.

Finally, Medellín where there is talk of a 27 percent contagion, or 672,344 people; and Montería registered a seroprevalence of 59 percent. This implies that, of 395,184 inhabitants, at least 233,159 were already infected.

“This means that cities like Montería are less likely to have infections. What we have to keep in mind is that even if we have a high seroprevalence we can have the risk of getting sick, that’s why we can’t lower our guard, “added Moscoso

For his part, President Iván Duque He only referred tonight to the particular cases of Bogotá and Medellín, cities with low rates, but with the highest levels of contagion according to the official record that is collected every day.

Regarding these, the president said that “this message is very important so that the guard is not lowered, having such a low seroprevalence. That means that more than 70 percent of people have not had the covid, but if they relax we will have a growth of the cases ”.

Regarding the study, Martha Ospina, director of the INS, reiterated that it is a preliminary stage and that the results may still change. At the moment, the studies of the samples taken in Cali, Ipiales and Guapi.

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