A CISF member, at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) in New Delhi, talks to a passenger through a glass shield on May 25, 2020, after the government allowed domestic flight services to be resume in India (Photo: Reuters)
To put it in perspective, the survey implies that 66 lakh people from the two crore of residents of Delhi may have been exposed to the virus and now have antibodies.
- News18.com
- Last update: September 17, 2020 10:33 am IST
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A serosurvey conducted between August and September on Wednesday found that nearly 33% of residents in Delhi have developed Covid-19 antibodies. The figure was released after preliminary analysis of the third survey of 17,000 samples. Final figures have not yet been officially released.
To put it in perspective, the survey implies that 66 lakhs of people from the two crore of residents in Delhi may have been exposed to the virus and now have antibodies.
“The report has been sent to the health department and is currently being reviewed. The final report could have minor variations in final seroprevalence as data for some districts is also being re-verified, ”said a senior government official. The Hindustan Times.
This is also the highest seroprevalence since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
The figure went from 29.1% in the second survey conducted in the first week of August. The first serological study found that 23.4% of people carried antibodies. While 15,000 samples were collected for the second survey, more than 21,000 samples were collected in the first.
The third survey report said that samples taken from containment zones in Delhi had “significantly higher seroprevalence” than those who had never lived in one.
“A serosurvey is necessary to find out the true burden of infection in the city or state. More importantly, it helps identify the number of asymptomatic people who have had the disease and have recovered from it. These people, in most cases, are not even aware that they are infected, ”said Dr. Lalit Kant, former director of epidemiology and infectious diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Meanwhile, scientists say the presence of antibodies indicates previous exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but it may not always translate into protection against disease, citing imponderables such as what kind of antibodies, how many, and how long they last.
There are neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) and also simple antibodies. While the nAbs produced against the new coronavirus can block its entry into the host cell, other antibodies are also generated against many parts of the virus, added Vineeta Bal from the Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER) in Pune. Simple antibodies are an indication of the host’s response to the viral presence, but they are not as helpful in stopping the spread of the virus, Bal said.
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