The third round of serological survey in Delhi is to be held from 1-5 September. It is expected that 17,000 individuals will be surveyed this time around. The last two surveys had covered 21,800 and 15,000 individuals respectively.
Sources in the Delhi government told The Daily Guardian that the plan is to conduct the serological survey at the beginning of every month. Officials and staff are being trained for this exercise.
The second serological survey for Covid-19, conducted in Delhi on August 20, showed that 29% of those who had been surveyed in the national capital in August had antibodies for the novel coronavirus. The second survey also showed a prevalence of antibodies among women in Delhi was more (32.2%) when compared to men (28.3%). According to the second survey report, the prevalence of antibodies among those aged less than 18 were found to be 34.7%, those between 18-50 28.5% and those above 50 31.2%.
Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that the second survey report was an indication of the fact the war against the pandemic in national capital is yielding better results with the passage of time.
Jain said that if the population of Delhi is considered to be 2 crores, then it means that nearly 59 lakh people have recovered and are now protected from the virus post infection.
“This time, the serological report has said that 29% of the state’s population has recovered from the disease. That means they contracted the virus and later on recovered developing antibodies against it. If we take the state population to be 2 crores, then 58 lakh individuals have recovered from the virus,” Jain said while releasing the report of second survey.
The first survey was held between June 27 and July 10 during which 23.48% of people were found to have developed antibodies against Sars-CoV-2 that causes Covid-19. In the first survey, samples were collected from 21,387 people.
The number increased by 5.62% or 11.25 lakh individuals in just 1 month. The sample size for the second survey conducted between August 1-7 is around 15,000 people.
Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases in the national capital steadily increases. Delhi recorded 1,544 cases on Monday, taking the total number of cases to above 1.64 lakh. The total number of deaths in the state is at 4,330. The positivity rate in Delhi is 7.78%, while the recovery rate is just above 90%. Delhi has conducted over 14,62,000 tests.