About one in four of the 15,000 people tested in the latest serosurvey in the capital showed a prevalence of antibodies to Sars-Cov-2, the government reported to the Delhi high court on Wednesday, indicating that the proportion of people with antibodies has remained virtually unchanged. from the previous round of the exercise.
The report also showed that a large proportion (43.5%) of people who had previously been diagnosed with Covid-19 were still seronegative, a statistic that independent experts said underestimated how those surveys underestimated the number of people who had been exposed.
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The report’s authors, however, said it was because antibodies take time to develop after contracting an infection and remain detectable for only a limited period.
The researchers caution that the absence of antibodies in infected people cannot be conclusive proof that they are unprotected from the disease.
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Similarly, it is unclear how long and how strong these antibodies against Covid-19 can deliver. The prevalence of antibodies among those sampled in the fourth round of the sero survey has increased by minuscule 0.4 percentage points in a month and a half, from 25.1% in the first week of September to 25.5% in the third week of October. The study authors attributed the lack of an increase in seroprevalence to “fewer infections reported in August” and “missing” antibodies.
Findings from the October round of the seroprevalence survey report were presented during the Delhi high court hearing on a guilty plea seeking more aggressive evidence in Delhi. During the hearing, the court censured the government for relaxing the rules for public movement at a time when infections have “skyrocketed in an alarming manner.” The court asked the government to establish a policy to control the “mind-blowing” rate of new cases. “No home has been left intact,” said a court of law Hima Kohli and Judge Subramonium Prasad.
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“The rates in the city are amazing. The number of deaths is in double digits every day. What about the Delhi government allowing all unlocking when cases are skyrocketing? Why have you opened everything? What are the strategies you are following? “said the court.
“Today, Delhi is outpacing the entire state of Maharashtra and Kerala in Covid-19 infections. When the numbers are decreasing in all states, then why are the numbers increasing only in your state? Either there is no control or there is no control, ”said the bank.
The seven-day average of daily new cases in Delhi has reached 7,148, and the Union territory has seen an average of 75 Covid-19 deaths per day over the past week. Delhi currently accounts for the majority of daily cases in the country. And there are no Covid-19 beds available in private hospitals.
At the end of June, 22.6% of the 21,000 people in the sample had antibodies. This proportion soared to 29.1% among the 15,000 people sampled in August, and then fell to 25.1% among the 17,000 people sampled in September.
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