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As per the latest serosurvey, 54% of the people in Hyderabad has developed antibodies against Covid-19.
The survey revealed that more than seventy-five per cent of the seropositive population was unaware of catching coronavirus in the past.
The latest seropositive survey in Hyderabad has revealed that about fifty-four per cent of the city’s residents have developed antibodies against Covid-19, which say about their past contact with a covid infected person. From the population in the study, 75% were unaware of them being covid positive.
The study was conducted by CSIR- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), ICMR- National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and Bharat Biotech, which was aimed at figuring out the seroprevalence of antibodies against the coronavirus in Hyderabad.
What WHO has to say about ‘herd immunity’?
WHO’s official definition of herd immunity or population immunity, is the ‘indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through the previous infection.’ WHO also encourages achieving ‘herd immunity’ through vaccination, not by letting a disease to spread through any segment of the population, which will destroy the present precautions we took.
In Hyderabad, scientists checked over nine thousand samples for antibodies against the virus in the population from 30 wards of the city. Almost 300 people from each ward of 10 plus age groups were tested during the survey. Each ward showed similarity in the range of seroprevalence from 50–60% seroprevalence as well.
One exciting revelation they had was the seropositivity found in everyone in the same household was 78 per cent.
After the survey, Dr A Laxmaiah, scientist ‘G’ at the NIN, said that having a larger number of rooms in houses and small family size households had a low prevalence of coronavirus infection.
The sampling study of 9000 people in Hyderabad showed that more than seventy-five per cent of the seropositive population did not know that they had contracted the virus in the past. This is the indication that seroconversion (antibody formation) has happened in the silent infection phase.
As per the study, people who had prominent Covid-19 symptoms, as well as those who were asymptomatic were found to have a similar seroprevalence of around 54%.
This brings a positive sign of herd immunity and a decrease in the fatality of the virus. Like Hyderabad, other cities might be moving towards herd immunity, or maybe they have already reached a certain level of resistance.
What is WHO’s position on herd immunity?
They said, ‘attempt to reach ‘herd immunity' through exposing people to a virus is scientifically problematic and unethical. Letting Covid-19 spread through a population, of any age or health status will lead to unnecessary infections, suffering and death.
We can conclude that the virus is going to stay here for a long time and we must learn to live with it. It is always appropriate to take precaution than to risk it all to reach herd immunity. As the vaccination drive has begun in every part of the world, we can hope for a better future for everyone.
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