Delhi conducted its fifth sero-prevalence survey in January and the results have revealed that the National Capital is inching closer towards attaining herd immunity against COVID-19.
The latest sero-survey has found that every second person in Delhi has developed antibodies against the novel coronavirus. Meaning, out of the over two-crore people residing in Delhi, nearly one crore people have already contracted COVID-19 and recovered from it. What is a sero-survey and will it help in the fight against COVID-19?
Though the Delhi government is yet to announce the result of the survey, a source privy to it has revealed: “In one district, the sero-prevalence rate is between 50-60 percent, indicating a large number of people have developed antibodies, so we can say the city is moving towards attaining herd immunity.”
A population is deemed to have attained herd immunity if 50 to 60 percent of the people are found to have developed antibodies during a sero-prevalence survey.
Notably, this was the fifth sero-survey conducted in Delhi; it was kicked off on January 11 and 28,000 samples were collected during the exercise. 6.6% Indians aged above 10 were exposed to COVID-19 by August: Sero-survey
The first one was done in July 2020 and had revealed that 23 percent of the surveyed population had developed antibodies against COVID-19.
The previous serological survey conducted in Delhi in October had revealed that 25.5 percent of the population had COVID-19 antibodies. The September survey had shown sero-prevalence in 25.1 percent of the population, while the August survey had found antibodies in 29.1 percent of Delhi’s population.
With PTI inputs
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