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Delhi has increased testing in recent weeks
Nearly one in four residents in the Indian capital, Delhi, has been exposed to coronavirus infection, antibody tests suggest in a random sample of people.
The government survey said 23.48% of the 21,387 people whose blood samples were tested had Covid-19 antibodies.
It suggests that infections in the city are much more widespread than the number of confirmed cases indicates.
So far, Delhi has recorded 123,747 cases, equivalent to less than 1% of its population of 19.8 million.
At 23.44%, the number of infections would be 4.65 million in a city of that size. A government press release says the difference shows that “a large number of infected people remain asymptomatic.”
He even says that the 23.48% figure may be too low because Delhi has several pockets of dense population. But she adds that “a significant proportion of the population remains vulnerable” and all security measures must be strictly followed.
Experts say the study, the first of its kind in India, is crucial because it will help authorities better understand the spread of the virus.
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It will guide them towards a better distribution of the test facilities and will also help develop area-specific containment policies.
Delhi has been one of the hardest hit cities in India and experienced a chronic shortage of hospital beds in the first two weeks of June.
But the hospital infrastructure has improved since then and the number of daily cases has also decreased.
The capital has registered between 1,200 and 1,600 new cases per day in the past two weeks, about half of its daily count in the last week of June.
And on Monday, the city registered only 954 cases.
The sharp drop in the number of cases can be attributed to increased testing, tracing, containment, and isolation.
The city has also seen a drop in the number of deaths.
