Covid: Sixth sero-survey report submitted to Delhi govt

NEW DELHI: The report of the sixth sero-survey carried out in the middle of April but truncated when the second Covid-19 wave rampaging through the city peaked, was submitted to Delhi government on Monday.
Around 10,000 samples were collected from different parts of the city before the survey was truncated due to raging Covid-19 putting tremendous pressure on the authorities and occupying their attention.
The survey started on April 12 and it was planned to collect 28,000 samples for the sixth survey carried out to figure out the presence of antibodies against coronavirus in the population. The sample collection stopped within a week of launch and a lockdown was imposed in Delhi on April 19 due to a massive jump in Covid cases.
The officers in the health department were tight lipped on the findings the sixth round of survey has revealed. The survey has been carried out by the Delhi government with technical support from Maulana Azad Medical College.
The government is likely to officially announce the sero-survey outcome soon.
The last sero-survey conducted in January revealed that 56.13% people in Delhi have antibodies, which means that more than 56% of the capital’s population was infected with coronavirus and had recovered. Experts say sero-prevalence in 50-60% or above population indicates herd immunity because when such a large part of the population develops antibodies against the virus the chain of transmission is broken, and the spread of the disease diminishes. The second and most devastating Covid-19 wave hit the capital over three months later.
Delhi conducted the first sero-survey in July last year and since then sero-survey was conducted each month. The sero-prevalence was 22.8% in the first survey, 28.7% in second, 25.1% in third, 25.5% in fourth survey. The 5th survey was conducted after 45 days gap according to advice from experts.