Two-thirds of Indians have Covid antibodies: ICMR sero survey

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The Centre announced the results of the 4th seroprevalence study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The ICMR’s fourth sero survey has shown that two-thirds of the population of India had Covid-19 antibodies, whereas about 40 crore people are still vulnerable to the infection.

“Two-third of the general population had SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and a third of the population did not have antibodies, which means still 40 crore people are still in vulnerable category,” Dr Balram Bhargava ICMR DG addressed the media.

The sero survey was conducted in 70 districts in June-July and included children in the age bracket of 6-17 years.

Findings

The overall sero-prevalence of India is 67.6%. More than half of the children between 6 to 17 years were found to be seropositive (having Covid-19 antibodies). The survey had enrolled about 28,975 people from 70 districts in India. Among healthcare workers, around 85% had developed antibodies against Covid-19

Seropositivity

-6-9 year age group is 2,892 (10%)

-10-17 year age group is 5,799 (20%)

-18 year and above age group is 20,284 (70%)

Fourth round of national sero-survey for #COVID19 – Overall sero-prevalence is 67.6% in the entire population

Amongst the adults in the survey, 62.2% people were not vaccinated, while 24.8% had taken single dose of vaccine and 13% were fully vaccinated – DG @ICMRDELHI pic.twitter.com/GHLPYUEKsE

— PIB India (@PIB_India) July 20, 2021

India’s active caseload is currently at 4,06,130 with a cumulative total of 3,11,74,322 cases. The national recovery rate of Covid-19 has increased to 97.37% with 45,254 patients recovering during the last 24 hours as recorded on the union health ministry website at 8 am today.

Cumulative vaccine doses administered so far have reached 41.18 crores. The new phase of universalisation of the vaccination programme commenced on June 21. Under the programme, the central government made inoculation free of cost for all adults.