Haryana serosurvey results: 78% population of Gurgaon has developed antibodies

Close to 80 per cent of the population in Gurgaon has developed naturally acquire immunity against, SARS-CoV-2. According to the third serological survey conducted by the Haryana health department, 78.3 per cent of the population in the Gurgaon district were found with Covid-19 antibodies, higher than the state’s seropositivity of 96.3 per cent.

Around 3000 people in Gurgaon were tested for antibodies, 78.3 percent showed positive results, higher than the state’s average of 76.3 percent. Moreover, urban areas in Gurgaon showed more people developing antibodies (80.3 percent) compared to the rural clusters in the cities (77 per cent).

The samples were examined by Dr Lisa and her team in Panchkula Civil hospital’s laboratory and the survey was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Usha Gupta. The PGIMS Rohtak team led by Dr Vinod Chahal provided technical support, Haryana health minister Anil Vij said.

The serosurvey was conducted in at least 75 clusters -45 urban and 30 rural areas covering 3,000 people that also included 1.200 children aged 6 to 17. $0 per cent of the samples were collected from the urban clusters and the rest from rural areas. Children belonging to the age group between 6 and 9 years recorded a seropositivity rate of 68.4% and those in the age group between 10 and 17 years, 70.4 per cent were found to have antibodies.

The serosurvey was the first of its kind where children above 6 years were also included to access their level of naturally acquired immunity as fear of third wave impacting children lurks behind.

According to the Chief Medical Officer of the Gurgaon district, Virender Yadav, even with a higher prevalence of antibodies among the population, it is not advisable to lower the guards as of now. The focus for the authorities now lies with vaccinating as many people as possible to minimize the spread of infection. The CMO further informed that 100 per cent of the population has got at least the first dose of vaccination.

A senior official at Public Health Foundation of India suggested that the results of the survey indicate that the population is moving towards herd immunity or so-called ‘endemicity’. Also, the fact the children without receiving any vaccination are showing seropositivity further indicated that the chances of a health crisis that occurred during the second wave in April-May are less likely. However, adhering to Covid protocols and achieving 100 per cent vaccination among adults is still necessary.

The results of the serological survey were declared on Monday by the Haryana government The researchers have randomly chosen 36, 250 samples. Faridabad recorded the lowest rate of seropositivity in its population (64.2 per cent) among 22 districts in Haryana. Kurishetraa reported the highest per centage of seropositivity (85 per cent)