Kerala sero survey shows 82.6% have antibodies against Covid-19

The report further said that 42.2 per cent of children and 65.4 per cent of pregnant women up to the age of 49 are having antibodies against the virus.

Thiruvananthapuram:Kerala, which was observing a spike in Covid cases has now released its survey report on Monday, which shows the Covid situation in the state is under control. According to a "sero survey" on Covid 19 conducted by the state government;82.6 per cent of people are having antibodies against the virus.

The report further revealed that 42.2 per cent of children and 65.4 per cent of pregnant women up to the age of 49 are having anti-bodies against the virus.

The Sero Survey was conducted with the help of 13,336 samples in six categories. The survey found anti-body presence among 82.6 per cent of people aged above 18. In Tribal areas, 78.2 per cent of people aged above 18 were having the antibodies. In coastal areas, 87.7 per cent and in slum areas 85.3 per cent of people were found to have antibodies. Health Minister Veena George tabled the survey report in the Assembly on Monday.

The aim of the survey was to find the infection rates among people aged 18 and above, children infected with the virus, infection among pregnant women aged between 18 and 49, infection rates in Tribal, coastal and slum areas. 3,650 samples among 4,429 samples collected from people aged 18 and above were found to have antibodies against Covid. Among 2,274 samples collected from pregnant women, 1,487 tested positive for antibodies. Out of 1,459 samples taken from children, 588 samples were found to have anti-bodies.

In Tribal areas, 1,189 samples out of 1,521 were found to be positive and 1,294 samples out of 1,476 samples collected from Coastal areas turned out to be positive for Covid antibodies. The survey concluded that the widespread vaccination helped in finding antibodies in the majority population aged above 18. The zero prevalence is calculated based on the presence of anti spike antibodies and anti nucleoscopic antibodies.

Anti spike antibodies are produced in a person either after Covid infection or through vaccination. Anti nucleoscopic antibodies are produced either through natural infection or through anti-Covid vaccination other than Covishield.

The Government decided to conduct the sero surveillance survey keeping school reopening in mind. An earlier survey conducted by the ICMR in Kerala had found out that more than 50 per cent of the population in Kerala were not having the antibodies and cited this as the reason for the increase in infection rates in Kerala.