Half of Delhi has antibodies against COVID-19, finds serological survey
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday said that a serological survey conducted in the national capital found that as many as 56.13% of people have developed antibodies against COVID-19, indicating exposure to the coronavirus. Citing the serosurvey, Jain said that Delhi was "moving toward herd immunity, but only experts will be able to give a clear picture." Here are more details.
Lowest seroprevalence in north district; highest in southeast
Jain said 56.13% of the 28,000 people sampled during Delhi's fifth serosurvey were found to have developed COVID-19 antibodies. The survey was conducted between January 15 to January 23 and at least 100 samples were collected from each of Delhi's 272 municipal wards. The lowest seroprevalence of 40.09% was found in Delhi's north district, while the southeast district reported the highest seroprevalence of 62.18%.
'Number of females with antibodies higher than males'
Jain said, "This was the largest survey conducted by the Delhi government yet. Delhi has largely won over COVID-19, but we should continue to practice COVID-19 appropriate behavior." "As the results in the previous surveys, this time, too, the number of females having antibodies was more than that of males," he said, adding that the complete report will be released in the coming days.
Technology used in latest survey better
Apart from it being the largest survey yet, the CLIA technology used was also better. "These kits have higher sensitivity as a result of which results come out more accurate," said Dr. Nutan Mundeja, Director General of Health Services (Delhi State Health Mission). "The samples were collected from people of all socio-economic strata and from across all kinds of population and age groups."
Delhi inching toward herd immunity, says Jain
Jain said that Delhi is now inching toward herd immunity. However, he added that there is no clear yardstick to define that term as of now. "Some say herd immunity is achieved at 50%, others say it should be 60%. I don't think we should get into the debate of herd immunity now," he said, urging people to continue following COVID-19 appropriate behavior.
How bad is the outbreak in India?
As of Monday evening, the latest available data, Delhi has reported a total of 6,35,217 COVID-19 cases, including 10,856 deaths and 6,23,096 recoveries. On Monday, Delhi had reported 121 fresh infections and three new deaths. Jain highlighted that Delhi has been reporting under 200 fresh cases every day for the past 10-12 days. The positivity rate is now stable under 1%, he added.