Coronavirus in India | COVID-19 widespread but 18 crore Indians may already have immunity says Thyrocare's antibody tests

COVID-19 infections in the country could be more widespread than previously thought, but is not lethal as feared, data from private laboratories conducting antibody tests show.

Many people may have recovered from COVID-19 without showing major symptoms at least in self-selected samples.

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Data shared by Arokiaswamy Velumani, founder and Managing Director of laboratory chain Thyrocare, on Twitter, shows that nearly 15 percent of those tested had antibodies against SARS-Cov2, which causes COVID-19.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the findings.

This comes a month after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) allowed use of antibody tests by companies and private labs.

An antibody test is used as a disease surveillance tool for authorities to get an idea of the extent of the virus’ spread in a geographical area. It is not meant to check whether a person was infected.

Also read: What is a COVID-19 antibody test and how to get it done? All your questions answered

#AntibodyTesting after 53,000 tests. Data Pincode wise, of >200 cases reported.15% positive for Abs,means 18 crs already silently, immunised in India (approx 10,000 per death). Too good to believe. Hope, kits do not have high false positives. @ICMRDELHI @MoHFW_INDIA #KeepMasked pic.twitter.com/p1oWt8Pkh1

— Antibody Velumani. (@velumania) July 17, 2020

Thyrocare has reportedly tested over 60,000 samples across more than 600 pin codes in India so far.

Globally, there have been over 1.46 crore confirmed cases of COVID-19. More than 6.06 lakh people have died so far.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in India have risen to 11.5 lakh, including a death toll at 28,084.