Covid-19: 1 In 4 People In T’gana Have Antibodies

The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) in Hyderabad, which is one of the oldest research centres being led by the Indian Council of Medical Research, stated that one in four persons in Telangana has had Covid19, and probably are not aware of it because of being asymptomatic. An asymptomatic person will not have any discernible symptom, however, one needs to be cautious when going into the crowd.

As a part of National serosurvey, the NIN conducted the third round of sero surveillance and they have come to a conclusion that one in four people in the state has antibodies against Covid. Which means, one in four has been infected. We are also a long way off attaining herd immunity because still three-fourth of the rural population is still susceptible.

The sero-survey was conducted in three Telangana districts – Jangoan, Nalgonda and Kamareddy. The first round of serosurvey was conducted in May 2020 and second in December 2020. The seroprevalence was found to be 0.33 per cent, 12.5 per cent and 24.1 per cent respectively in the rounds.

NIN Director R Hemalatha said that the aim is to document and study the infection transmission and conduct cross-sectional sero-studies in the same geographical locations. ICMR-Nodal Officer Dr Laxmaiah said good compliance and cooperation showed by the public in adopting universal mask-wearing and other Covid-19 protocols.