COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu: 87% people aged above 18 years have antibodies, finds sero survey

COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu: 87% of the people aged above 18 years in the southern state of Tamil Nadu have been found to have antibodies against novel coronavirus, according to the state’s health department. A seroprevalence survey held in December last year brought this to light after 32,245 people from both urban and rural areas were examined by a whopping 1,076 teams. In November 2020, when the first sero survey was conducted in the state, seroprevalence was at 32%, which means that 32% of the surveyed people were found to have antibodies against the virus, according to a report by news agency PTI.

Catch coronavirus live updates here

Moreover, in April 2021, it declined to 29% during the second sero survey, before surging to 70% in August 2021 by the time the third sero survey was conducted. The sero survey also found that 68% of the people in the age of 11 years and 18 years and those who have not yet been vaccinated also carried antibodies.

According to the report, the sero survey found that of the 27,324 vaccinated people surveyed under the study, 90% were found to have antibodies. On the other hand, 4,921 people who had not been vaccinated were also included in the survey, of whom, 69% contained antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

As far as different age groups are concerned, seroprevalence among people aged between 18 and 44 years was at 89.5%, while in the age group of 45 and 59 years, 88.6% people had antibodies. Seroprevalence was at 84.5% among people aged above 60 years, and at 68.4% among people between children aged between 10 and 18 years.

What’s more is that all of the districts in the state had seroprevalence of above 82%. Tirupathur district had the lowest seroprevalence at 82%, while the highest seroprevalence was recorded in Tiruvarur at 93%.