Antibodies against SARSCoV-2 were found among 76.3 per cent of the State’s population in a third sero survey conducted in all 22 districts of Haryana.
The latest survey conducted last month showcases a steep increase in antibodies in the State’s population as the current 76.3 per cent
from just 14.8 per cent in October 2020 and 8 per cent seen in August 2020.
The sero survey report which was released by Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on Monday found a sero-positivity rate of 69.8 per cent in children aged 6-9 years and 73.2 per cent in adolescents aged 10-17 years in the State. It was for the first time that the participants aged 6 years and above were enrolled in this
sero survey. In previous two rounds of sero surveys, people above the age of 18 years were enrolled in Haryana.
According to the findings, the overall sero-positivity was found to be 76.3 per cent (78.1 per cent in urban and 75.1 per cent in rural) but it varied from district to district, ranging from 64.2 per cent to 85 per cent in Faridabad district (lowest) and Kurukshetra (highest) respectively.
Kurukshetra district recorded highest sero-positivity followed by Rohtak (84.6 per cent), Mahendragarh (81.6 per cent) and Panipat (81.5 per cent). Faridabad had highest inconclusive samples (13.2 per cent) leading to the lowest sero-positivity following which the State Government has decided to conduct another sero survey in the district.
Sero-positivity of 75.3 per cent were reported in men, 77.1 per cent in women. Sero-positivity of 81.6 per cent was found in vaccinated people and a positivity of 75.5 per cent has been found in non-vaccinated people, stated the survey.
The survey also revealed that overall 57.08 per cent participants were vaccinated against Covid-19 out of which 52.6 per cent were males, 47.3 per cent were females and 0.07 per cent were transgender. Among vaccinated individuals, Covishield was administered to 91.1 per cent and Covaxin to 7.4 per cent of people in Haryana. Hypertension, diabetes, heart diseases, thyroid disorders & respiratory disorders were the most common co-morbid conditions present in the study participants.
Continued on Page 2
Above 70% non-vaccinated kids have Covid anti-bodies
Till date, around 2.47 crore eligible people have been vaccinated in the state.
A total of 36,520 samples were collected from all the districts of the state for the survey and testing of all samples was done in the laboratory of District Civil Hospital, Panchkula. The sero-survey analyses the blood samples of selected individuals for anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies.
According to the health experts, a sero-survey can help in understanding what percentage of a population has developed immunity against the virus and how far are we from herd immunity. It can also help examining which groups are more exposed or have had higher rates of infection
About 2200 officers and employees of the Health Department were engaged in the third round of sero survey.
Notably, in the first sero-survey conducted in August last year, when a total of 18,905 blood samples were collected, an overall 8 per cent of the samples had antibodies against the virus. The sero-positivity of SARSCoV-2 was highest in Faridabad (25.8 percent) followed by Nuh (20.3 percent). Four districts recorded sero prevalence between 10 per cent to 13 per cent while eight districts had prevalence between 5 per cent to 10 per cent. Overall, it was 6.9 per cent in rural areas and 9.59 per,cent in urban areas.
Later, an overall sero-positivity in the state was recorded at 14.8 per,cent (15,840 samples) during the second sero-survey conducted in October 2020. The highest prevalence of 31.2 per cent was reported in Faridabad followed by 28.6 percent in Yamunanagar district. Six districts were found to have sero-positivity prevalence below 10 per cent namely, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Mahendragarh, Sirsa and Hisar. Urban areas had recorded a high positivity rate of 19.8 per cent, while it was 11.4 per cent in rural areas.
