29.1% Of People In Delhi Have Developed Antibodies Against COVID-19

New reports show that 29.1% of respondents in a new survey in Delhi have antibodies against the coronavirus, according to Satyendar Jain, the state health minister on Thursday.

He said that the survey took 15,000 representative samples from August 1 to 17, covering 11 districts and the next survey will start taking samples on September 1. As pointed out by the minister, the previous survey found 22% of the samples had antibodies. The rate has gone up to 29.1%, which means people have got infected with the coronavirus but recovered.

Additionally, he said that 28.3 percent of the men in the survey developed antibodies against COVID-19 while the rate for women was 32.2 percent in the new survey.

Previously, the seroprevalence survey took place between June 27 and July 10 under a collaboration between the National Centre for Disease Control and the Delhi government, which involved 21,387 samples. It was found that about 23% of them had been exposed to the coronavirus. About this, Jain said:

“The rise, rather than the exponential rise is not there. So, people are taking safety precautions it seems. But, we cannot afford to be complacent and lower our guard, even though positivity rate at present is 7 percent.”

The findings were used to assess the situation of the pandemic in Delhi so that authorities could come up with the right strategies.

Of the total sample size, 25% belonged to the group of 18 years and younger, 50% belonged to the group of 18 to 49 years old, and 25% belonged to the group of 50 years and older. In North-East district, the seroprevalence was found to be 29%, in South district, the rate was 27%, the rate found in South district was 33%, and New Delhi’s rate was 24%, according to Jain.

The minister said that he suggested surveying a larger sample but experts and scientists from the team leads decided on the 15,000 number. The findings also indicate that 71% can still get infected with COVID-19. Experts said that herd immunity can only be built if 40-50% of people develop antibodies, so there’s a long way to go.

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