Over 73 per cent people in Odisha's 12 districts have COVID antibodies: ICMR serosurvey

BHUBANESWAR: Three in every four persons, including the vaccinated ones and children, have developed antibodies against SARS-CoV2, the latest serosurvey spanning 12 districts has found.

The Odisha Serosurvey-2021 conducted jointly by the Health and Family Welfare department and Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Bhubaneswar from August 29 to September 15 found an overall sero-prevalence of 73.5 per cent (pc).

While sero-positivity was the highest 93.9 per cent among the healthcare workers, it was around 70 per cent in the 6-10 age group and 74 per cent among the people aged 11 to 18 years. For the first time in State serosurvey, children and adolescents below 18 years were included.

Divided in three zones, the survey was conducted simultaneously in Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Jharsuguda, Puri, Khurda, Jajpur, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Kalahandi, Kandhamal and Nabarangpur districts.

Community sero-prevalence was the highest at 80.47 per cent in Khurda and over 68 per cent in Jajpur, Mayurbhanj and Jharsuguda. More than 70 per cent people in the rest eight districts have developed antibodies against the coronavirus.

As per the survey findings, healthcare workers across all districts showed high levels of sero-prevalence. However, the sero-positivity was less than 90 pc in Khurda and Sundargarh and over 98 pc in Jajpur and Kandhamal.

Among the seropositive adults, 66.5 per cent had received at least one dose of COVID vaccine. The sero-prevalence was higher among the adults as compared to children or older persons even as vaccination coverage was higher among older age groups.

A senior scientist of RMRC said though 48 per cent women had received at least one dose of vaccine as compared to 45.6 per cent men, there was no significant difference between rural and urban or men and women in seropositivity with respect to vaccine coverage.

"Among seropositive persons, 13 pc reported symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 and 23 per cent had previously tested positive (since April this year). There was no difference in prevalence rates between those vaccinated with Covaxin and Covishield," he observed.

A total 7,108 samples were collected including 5,796 from the community and 1,312 from healthcare workers. Among them, 25.6 per cent were fully immunised, 41.4 per cent were partially vaccinated and 33 pc were unvaccinated.

The fourth round national serosurvey conducted in Ganjam, Koraput and Rayagada districts in June found an overall sero-prevalence of 65.12 per cent in the community and 85.53 per cent in healthcare workers.