BMC’s fifth sero survey conducted in Mumbai on August 2021 reveals that a huge 86.64% population in the financial capital of India has COVID-19 antibodies. The survey was conducted on 8,674 people. This is a huge increase from 36.3% that was found in the sero survey conducted in March this year
The latest survey found a seropositivity rate of 87.02% in slums and 86.22% in the non-slum populations. For the first time, it is seen that a very small percentage of difference is there in both the data.
“Sero-prevalence was significantly higher in study subjects who received either first or both doses of COVID-19 vaccine as compared to their unvaccinated counterparts. it is essential to strengthening the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination program,” stated the civic body in a statement released on Friday.
The survey results show some very important findings. The sudden increase in antibodies in the non-slum population in this survey shows the shift in trends, meaning how the COVID-19 pandemic spread to the non-slum areas during the second wave.
What findings suggest
In the first wave, the slums were worst affected. But during the second wave bulk of the cases came from the high-rise buildings.
BMC data shows that out of 87,000 active cases in April this year, 90% were concentrated in high-rise buildings while slums account for just 10%.
Antibodies are formed within a week to three weeks of infection, but their levels start declining after a few months of the infection.
Of 8,674 people surveyed, 20% were health care workers. Sero-prevalence in health care workers was found to be 87.14%.
The seroprevalence with females showed 88.29% in comparison to 85.07% of seroprevalence in males.
Sero survey findings so far
In July 2020, the results of the first serosurvey showed seroprevalence stood at 16% in non-slums.
The first serosurvey last July showed 57% population in slums had antibodies.
This was reduced to 45% in the second survey in August 2020 and 41.6% this March.
In August, a second survey, however, showed that seroprevalence rose marginally to 18% for non-slums.
In March this year, seroprevalence in non-slum areas increased to 28.5%.
Source: dnaindia.com