Up to 64 lakhs of Indians were infected with the new coronavirus in early May, the long-awaited results of the first national serosurvey conducted by the ICMR have shown. The survey was conducted from May 11 to June 4 and included 28,000 people whose blood samples were tested for IgG antibodies using the COVID Kavach ELISA kit. A total of 64,68,388 adult infections were estimated in India as of early May, according to the survey report.
Seropositivity was the highest in the age group 18 to 45 years (43.3%), followed by those aged 46 to 60 years (39.5%) and the lowest among those over 60 years (17, two%). The survey noted that there could be underdetection of COVID-19 cases in stratum-zero districts due to a shortage of testing and poor access to testing labs. India has so far recorded 44.65 lakhs of cases and 75,062 deaths.
The Union Ministry of Health issued a revised SOP for testing during the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday, removing the provision that allowed symptomatic candidates who insist on taking an exam to do so in isolation. According to the revised document, in the regular course, a symptomatic candidate must be referred to the nearest health center and given the opportunity to take the exam by other means, or the university or educational institution will take the exam in a later date when the student is declared physically fit.
On September 2, the ministry issued guidelines that containment zone personnel and examinees will not be allowed to be physically present in the test centers and there will be alternative arrangements for such students. Such students will be given the opportunity to take the exam by other means, or universities and educational institutions will arrange to take the exam at a later date.
.
