Chennai: As a Covid-19 case in Tamil Nadu across 25 lakh earlier this month, at least 66.2% of the population or two of every three people in the country have developed antibodies against the virus, showing serosurvey carried out by the Ministry of Health.
The third cross-sectional serosurvey conducted between June and July which included 26,610 samples revealed almost double the seropositivity compared to the levels that apply at the end of the first wave in October 2020.
The increase is more infected or more people.
, said officials.
The results of the survey issued by MA Health Minister Subramanian on Saturday showed that among those tested, 17,624 had IgG antibodies against the virus.
A recent survey by the Indian Council for medical research also showed seropocytivity of 69.2% among 1,258 people tested in the country.
Nationally, it was 67.6%.
While Chennai has an 82% seropositivity, Virudhunagar Regency records the highest 84% seroprevalance and the lowest erode at 37%.
This survey was conducted by the Directorate of Public Health and preventive treatment at 888 clusters in all states.
Each of these clusters has 30 people representing the village (in rural areas) or roads in (urban areas).
Blood samples were tested in the six Laboratory Reference Directorate at Chennai, Trichy, Madurai.
Coimbatore, Tirunelveli and Salem.
“It is good to see that more than three elimit populations have protection.
It was a big leap of what we saw in 2020,” said Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan.
During phase-1, seropocytivity is 32%.
It fell to 29% at the beginning of the second wave in April.
Although overall seroprevalence in the country has increased by almost 34 percentage points compared to phase-1, the growth is not uniform in all districts.
While Chennai has an 82% seropositivity, coimbatore and erode have 43% and 37% seropositivity.
“This explains why these two Western districts continue to report the highest number of cases per million every day.
In absolute quantities, Solid populated Chennai reported more than Erode,” said Public Health Director Dr.
TS Selvavinayagam, who led the survey.
Erode, Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Nagapattinam (46%) and namakkal (47%) are five districts with seropocytivities of less than 50%.
Eleven other districts recorded a speed of 70% to 79%.
The biggest surge in seropocytivity, compared to a phase-1 survey in 2020, was reported by Dindugul.
The district, which reported the existence of antibodies at 28% of the population, has reported an increase in 45 percentage points to 73%.
The lowest increase is in Coimbatore (21 percentage points), ERODE (20 percentage points) and screens (9 percentage points).
According to officials, high seropositivity in Tamil Nadu during the second wave was due to two reasons.
“The second wave was fierce.
The state reported more than 36,000 cases a day.
Apart from those tested positively, there may be more asymptomatic,” said Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan.
In addition, vaccination drives are also intense.
When the survey began on June 10, 97.6 people in TN have received at least one dose of vaccine.
“This makes us with two goals to ensure the district with a lower prevalence increases the coverage of vaccination and ensures people in the district with a higher prevalence do not let their guard down,” he said.