New Delhi: The much-hyped second national Sero Survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) revealed that the prevalence of Covid-19 infection has risen from 0.73 percent in May-June to 7.1 percent in August-September among Indian population aged above 18.
The survey's results showed that the majority of the population is still susceptible to Covid-19 infection. It further revealed that at 6.6 percent, the infection could also be found among children of 10 years and above.
"After the first Sero Survey, we thought that the infection is prevalent among adults, but now we have found that the infection is prevalent in young age group (10 years and above) too," said ICMR Director-General Dr. Balram Bhargava.
The second Sero Survey was conducted in 700 villages/wards (in urban) from 70 districts from 21 states. The same villages were covered in first Sero Survey.
During the second survey which was held from August 17 to September 22, blood samples of 29,082 individuals were collected.
"The prevalence of infection is not different by age group and gender. Urban slum (15.6 percent) and non-slum (8.2 percent) areas had higher SARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence than that of rural areas (4.4 percent)," said Dr Bhargava.
He said that lockdown and behaviour change at a population level have effectively checked the potential spread of SARS-CoV-2.
"Risk in urban slums twice than that in non-slum areas and four times than the risk in a rural setting," Dr Bhargava said.
Delhi has also witnessed an increasing infection rate from 23.5 percent (1st survey) to 29.1 percent (2nd survey).
Sero-prevalence in Puducherry too increased from 4.9 percent (in first survey) to 22.7 percent (second survey).
Dr. Bhargava said that an increased sero-prevalence has been found in other countries during their Sero Survey. Sero-prevalence has increased from 1.6 percent in Brazil (May 14-21) to 2.8 percent (June 4-7).
"Since a large proportion of the population is yet susceptible- prevention, fatigue to be avoided and 5T strategy (test, track, trace, treat and technology) need to be adhered," said Dr Bhargava.
He cautioned that in the light of the upcoming festivities, winter season and mass gathering, inventive containment strategies need to be implemented by the states.
ICMR has carried the first population-based Sero Survey from May 11 to June 4.
Sero Survey estimates the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among individuals of different age groups. Giving his reactions over the Sero Survey findings, Dr. VK Paul, member Niti Aayog said that this is the largest Sero Survey in the world which was done through a scientific approach.
"The coming winter may be challenging. We need to adopt more precautions for coming three to five months. We don't have to take the "under control" situation as granted. In fact, we need to follow the guidelines and maintain social distancing," said Dr Paul and added "no government can identify each and every asymptomatic person. This survey gives us an idea about the prevalence of the infection."
Meanwhile, the Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhusan said that the central government has earmarked the required budget for vaccine production and its distribution.
"Our vaccine monitoring committee has prioritised the population. We have calculated the requirements and we are ready," said Bhushan while referring to a statement from Serum Institute of India 's(SII) CEO Adar Poinawalla asking the government on the requirement for over Rs. 8,00,000 crore over the next one year to buy and distribute the vaccine to everyone in this country.
Talking about the increasing number of Covid-19 cases, Bhushan said that people escaping RT PCR tests is a matter to look into. "Symptomatic people who went under rapid antigen test must do RT PCR test. Their negligence is posing a serious issue," said Bhushan. He said that recovery cases in India crossed 51 lakh mark which is highest in the world.
India has conducted more than 7.3 crore tests. More than 77.8 lakh tests have been conducted in the last week.
Interestingly, India's Covid cases per million population (4,453) is amongst the lowest in the world. India is also witnessing lowest death (70.0) per million population against the world average of 127.
"India's Covid tests per million population also crossed 50,000 mark on September 26," said Bhushan.
