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The national study in Spain that sought to know the level of immunity to the new coronavirus had its first results. Only 5% of Spaniards, around two million people, developed antibodies against covid-19, which places the country very far from group immunity.
The seroprevalence study (number of people who develop antibodies against an infection) against covid-19 carried out by the Government of Spain concluded that only 5% of Spaniards developed some type of defense and protection against SARS-Cov-2 infection. . The data was analyzed by the Carlos III Health Institute, whose preliminary results also showed that the level of immunity differs from one region to another. In Madrid, for example, the figure rises to 11.3%, in Barcelona it stands at 7.1% and in Murcia, immunity falls to 2%.
As in some European countries, whose percentages remain below 5% (Denmark with 1.9% and the Netherlands with 3.2%), Spain is far from group immunity in covid-19, which should be at least 60%, according to The experts. The data presented this Wednesday by the Health Minister, Salvador Illa, serve to provide “an x-ray of the epidemic” in Spain. But, the minister asked for precaution and extra care to return to “normal”, after knowing these numbers.
The design of this study was ambitious and has not yet been completed. The National Statistics Institute in Spain randomly selected 36 thousand families, but in total 90 thousand people were invited to voluntarily participate in the study. For now, 60 thousand people participated in this first phase, which underwent two tests (a quick one that consisted only of a finger prick and another that required blood tests). The tests were done two weeks apart to see if people had developed antibodies during this period.
The samples were collected by 1,416 health centers and 2,600 health professionals. Raquel Yotti, director of the Carlos III National Institute says that the study was “a milestone” in the country. Despite the percentage obtained of only 5%, the value is not watertight over time. “The data now may not reflect the situation in weeks or months; everything depends on the measures applied,” explains the epidemiologist Jesús Molina Cabrillana, quoted by the newspaper “El País”.
All age groups were taken into account in this study, but for minors it was concluded that immunity is very low. For example, a percentage of 2.2% was recorded in children between 1 and 4 years old and 3% between 5 and 9 years old. About 26% of the respondents were asymptomatic (had no symptoms of covid-19).
For Ildefonso Hernández, professor at the Miguel Hernández University of Alicante, heard by “El País”, the ideal would be for the percentage of immunity to be higher in the elderly, since they are a risk group for the new coronavirus. However, the public health specialist remembers that even with an immunity value equal to or greater than 60%, nothing is a guarantee of protection. “There is still a lot to learn about SARS-CoV-2,” he said.
In Spain,. Companies are conducting serological tests on workers and granting them immunity passports, according to “Euronews.” The Spanish government has already warned that immunity tests carried out by individuals may not be reliable.
This Wednesday, 184 more people died from covid-19 in Spain, increasing the number of deaths to 27,104. There are 228691 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the country.
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