Two-thirds of Indians have Covid antibodies, another 40 crore still vulnerable to infection: Centre

The fourth round of the survey was conducted in the 70 districts across 21 states where the previous three rounds had been carried out

Nearly two-thirds of the population in the country has developed antibodies against coronavirus, but 40 crore people are still vulnerable to the disease, a national sero survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has found.

ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said the findings of the fourth national survey, conducted in the last 10 days of June and the first week of July, presented a “ray of hope” in the fight against Covid-19.

At the same time, Bhargava said there is no room for complacency as one in three persons is still vulnerable to infection and it would be better if this group developed antibodies against coronavirus through vaccination and not through infection.

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He cautioned against crowding at public, religious or political functions and non-essential travels.

Bhargava said children between 6-17 years were included in the survey for the first time and more than half of them were sero-positive or had developed antibodies for coronavirus.

While the overall seroprevalence was 67.6 per cent in the entire population, in the six-nine year age group, it was 57.2 per cent, and among 10-17-year-olds, it was 61.6 per cent. In the age group of 18-44 years, it was 66.7 per cent and in 45-60 years, it was 77.6 per cent.

Bhargava said there was no difference in seroprevalence in men and women and rural and urban areas, indicating equal penetration of infections in the categories.

According to the government, 85 per cent of the surveyed healthcare workers had antibodies against coronavirus.

Sero positivity was 62.3 per cent in unvaccinated persons covered by the survey, 81 per cent in those having received one vaccine dose and 89.8 per cent in people who had taken both the doses of the vaccine.

Health workers showed the highest sero prevalence at 85.2 per cent.

The survey covered 28,975 general population and 7,252 healthcare workers and was conducted in 70 districts across 21 states. These were the same districts where previous three rounds of the serosurvey had been carried out.