67.6% of Indians have Covid antibodies, ICMR’s fourth sero survey finds

The government Tuesday said that a nationwide survey has found that around two-thirds or 67.6 per cent of India’s population aged above six have Covid antibodies.

In the fourth national Covid-19 sero survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in June-July, it was found that two-thirds have the antibodies, meaning 40 crore people are still vulnerable to Covid-19 infection.

ICMR DG Dr Balram Bhargava, in a press conference, said that though the survey show there is a ray of hope, there is no room for complacency and stressed on the need to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.

The survey also found that 85 per cent of the surveyed healthcare workers (HCWs) had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and one-tenth of HCWs were still unvaccinated.

The survey was conducted in 28,975 persons of general population and 7,252 healthcare workers covering 70 districts across 21 states.

ICMR also suggested that it would be wise to consider reopening primary schools first as children can handle virus infection better.

“Children can handle viral infection much better as they have lower number of ace receptors. So once the decision is taken and all the staff vaccinated, it would be wise to open primary schools first,” it said.

The government also added that social, religious and political congregations should be avoided and non-essential travels should be discouraged.

Meanwhile, the government today informed the Rajya Sabha that no deaths due to lack of oxygen were specifically reported by states and UTs during the second Covid-19 wave, news agency PTI reported.

But there was an unprecedented surge in demand for medical oxygen during the second wave and it peaked at nearly 9000 MT compared to 3095 MT in the first wave following which the Centre had to step in to facilitate equitable distribution among the states, it said.

Responding to a question on whether a large number of Covid-19 patients died on roads and hospitals due to acute shortage of oxygen in the second wave, Minister of State for Health Bharati Praveen Pawar noted that health is a state subject and states and UTs regularly report the number of cases and deaths to the Centre.