88% adults have COVID antibodies, 4th serosurvey in Tamil Nadu reveals
Premium- Among the vaccinated individuals, 90% had detectable levels of antibodies, while for those who were unvaccinated, 69% had them.
About 88% of adults and 68% of children above the age of 10 in Tamil Nadu have antibodies against Covid-19, the fourth serosurvey conducted in the last week of December showed. Serosurvey in October-November showed seropositivity of 32% among the people of Tamil Nadu, 29% in April 2021, and 70% in July-August 2021.
However, this is the first time children in the age group of 10 to 18 were tested. T S Selvavinayagam, director, public health and preventive medicine, who supervised the survey, said, “They were unvaccinated at the time of the survey and also had detectable levels of IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, which is indirect evidence regarding their exposure to the infection."
Meanwhile, the seropositivity was 89.5% among people in the 18-44 age group, 88.6% in the 45-59 group, and 84.5% among senior citizens above 50.
The survey also showed, among the vaccinated individuals, 90% had detectable levels of antibodies, while for those who were unvaccinated, 69% had them. “Thus, it is clear that vaccinated individuals have better detectable levels of anti-SARS CoV-2 IgG antibodies."
The seropositivity was highest in Tiruvarur (93%) and 88% in Chennai.
In mid-January, 97% of the cases in Tamil Nadu were that of the Omicron variant. Until December 7, all cases were of Delta variant.
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