Hyderabad: More than half of city’s population now have COVID-19 antibodies

In a recently conducted seroprevalence survey in Hyderabad, it has been found that around 54 per cent of residents living in Hyderabad have already developed antibodies against COVID-19. This means that more than half the population have been exposed to the novel coronavirus. Interestingly, more than 75 per cent of those who found out to be seropositive, did not even know that they have had the viral infection in the past, a report by The IE noted. The study was conducted by ICMR – National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Bharat Biotech and CSIR – Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB).

In order to map the seroprevalence of COVID-19 antibodies against the viral infection, as many as 9,000 samples were checked for antibodies and these were collected from across 30 wards of the city, the report said. A minimum of 300 people from each ward (those older than 10 years of age) were tested in this survey. The survey noted a uniformity in the range of seroprevalence from 50-60 per cent, but in some wards, there prevalence was 70 per cent and in some it went low 30 per cent.

According to the report, women have shown a seropositivity rate at 56 per cent which is marginally higher than 53 per cent seropositivity rate found in men. People above the age of 70 years had a lower seropositivity and this can be attributed to limited mobility as well as extra care that is taken by older individuals during the pandemic.

Dr A Laxmaiah, Scientist ‘G’ at the NIN in a press statement underlined that the families with larger numbers of rooms in a house along with a small family size can lead to low prevalence of coronavirus infection. Regarding the survey, Dr R Hemalatha, Director, NIN, said that their observations show antibody formation that took place with silent infections.

Moreover, the study saw individuals having prominent Covid-19 symptoms along with the ones being asymptomatic had similar seroprevalence at 54 per cent. Dr Rakesh Mishra, Director, CCMB said that the study conducted has highlighted a comprehensive perspective when it comes to the potential protective immune response against the COVID-19 in Hyderabad’s population. The data shows slow movement towards herd immunity, however, Mishra believes it can be accelerated with the push of vaccination drive.