23% of Delhi’s population has developed antibodies against coronavirus: Study

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NEW DELHI: A sero-prevalence study was conducted in Delhi between June 27 and July 10 by the Government of Delhi, in collaboration with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). The study was conducted in order to identify demographic trends in the spread of coronavirus in the city. During the study, a total of 21,387 samples were randomly tested by the NCDC. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, of the total samples tested, more than 23 per cent people showed evidence of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2 in the past six months. This was ascertained by the fact that the sero-prevalence test of these people showed presence of coronavirus antibodies. Moreover, a large number of people remained asymptomatic to the disease.

“Nearly six months into the epidemic, only 23.48% of the people are affected in Delhi, which has several pockets of dense population,” the Union health ministry, which commissioned the study, said in a statement. In order to make the results of the study more representative of the city’s overall condition, samples were taken from randomly selected people and rapidly tested for antibodies. The samples were tested to ascertain the population-level presence of the IgG antibody, which indicates past infection.

“This can be attributed to the proactive efforts taken by the Government to prevent the spread of infection including prompt lockdown, effective containment and surveillance measures, including contact tracing and tracking, as well as citizen’s compliance to COVID Appropriate Behaviours,” the health ministry said in the statement. However, the ministry warned that a large part of the population still remains vulnerable to the disease. Thus, it suggested that containment measures must be followed rigorously. In addition to this, non-pharmacological interventions such as physical distancing, use of face mask/cover, hand hygiene, cough etiquette and avoidance of crowded places etc, must be followed strictly.