13.7.20

Covid may have Infected 15% of Delhi’s Population

A sero-surveillance survey conducted across 20,000 households in Delhi shows that around 10-15% of the sample could have been infected by coronavirus. The results of the sero survey conducted from June 27 to July 5 in 11 districts of the national capital have been evaluated and shared with the home ministry.

Conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control and the Delhi government, 22,823 samples were picked up randomly by the surveillance team for antibody testing.

“Sero-surveys help to understand the proportion of the population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection including asymptomatic individuals. The survey found that 10-15 % have already got the disease and are over with it. In a very few zones, it ranged higher than 15%,” said a person aware of the findings of the survey. “The prevalence varied in different districts which means that the outbreak is localised,” he added.

Earlier, the Indian Council of Medical Research had also conducted sero surveillance in the containment zones of Delhi along with other cities. While the details of the survey are yet to be made public, sources said that it showed the prevalence of the infection in 10-30% of the sample in the containment zones of Delhi.

The rising number of cases in Delhi has been a major cause of concern, though there have been signs of improvement in the last few days. The active cases reported on Saturday in the national capital were the lowest in the last one month. The fatality figures also showed a decline.

On Sunday, the city reported 1,573 positive cases and 37 deaths due to Covid-19, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 112,494 and the death toll to 3,371. A total of 2,276 people have recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the recoveries to 89,968.

“The steady decline in daily cases in Delhi is an encouraging sign. A fall in daily death count, if maintained, will be an even stronger indication that the epidemic is coming under control. Over all the recent trends are promising and suggest that increased vigour of public health is paying off,” said K Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India.

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