The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday, June 11, said that the country is not in the third stage of the coronavirus outbreak, the community transmission phase while releasing the first part of the serosurvey results.
Professor (Dr) Balram Bhargava, Director General, ICMR, while addressing the Union Health Ministry briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country, said that a substantial portion of the population is at risk and precautionary measures including social distancing need to be followed.
Explaining the survey results, he said the urban slum population was most vulnerable to the transmission of the virus, followed by the urban settlement and then the rural population. Infection in containment zones is still high which according to the study is contributing to rising cases.
#IndiaFightsCorona: Part 1 of Serosurvey is complete and in this we have divided districts into 4 groups based on number of reported #COVID19 cases. There were 15 districts in each group and around 400 individuals were studied from each district: @ProfBhargava@ICMRDELHI pic.twitter.com/JalwdUzLRa
— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) June 11, 2020
#IndiaFightsCorona: @ICMRDELHI studied approx. 83 districts in the country. We were able to collect blood samples and data from 26400 individuals: @ProfBhargava @ICMRDELHI #StaySafe #StayHome #IndiaWillWin pic.twitter.com/TA6Dezws5z
— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) June 11, 2020
‘For such a large country, prevalence is low, less than 1 per cent in smaller districts, but slightly higher in cities and containment zones. So, India is definitely not in community transmission,’ said Prof Bhargava.
The apex medical body while citing the results of the study said that the spread of the coronavirus pandemic is slow but the population is not immune to the virus that awaits a vaccine.
Given the current circumstances, the citizens are expected to continue following ‘COVID appropriate behaviour’ which has been directed by the government. The organisation also pointed out that it would continue its strategy of testing, tracing, tracking, quarantine and containment measures.
Also, the elderly, people with co-morbidities, pregnant women and children less than 10 years of age need to follow preventive measures and be protected as they fall in the high-risk category who are susceptible to the disease.
‘We found that about 0.73 per cent of the population in these 15 districts showed a prevalence of past exposure to infection. It means that lockdown measures were successful in keeping it low and preventing rapid spread,’ he added.
‘The ICMR has calculated that compared to rural areas, the risk of spread was 1.09 times higher in urban areas and 1.89 times higher in urban slums. The infection fatality rate is very low at 0.08%,” asserted the Director-General.
ICMR released the results of a serosurvey which was conducted to establish whether there is any community transmission happening in the hotspot districts or not.
#IndiaFightsCorona: In Serological survey, we collected the blood samples from general population and test them for IgG antibodies & if the antibodies tested +ve, it means that the person has been infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the past: @ProfBhargava @ICMRDELHI #StaySafe pic.twitter.com/2uxc5GcMPl
— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) June 11, 2020
#IndiaFightsCorona: @ICMRDELHI conducted first serosurvey in May 2020 in collaboration with State health departments, NCDC & @WHO. 1st part of survey was to estimate the fraction of population who has been infected with #COVID19; this part is completed: @ProfBhargava pic.twitter.com/elaemelmcG
— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) June 11, 2020
The survey was conducted in the third week of May and gives data on status of the districts from the last week of April.
#IndiaFightsCorona: @ICMRDELHI conducted first serosurvey in May 2020 in collaboration with State health departments, NCDC & @WHO. 1st part of survey was to estimate the fraction of population who has been infected with #COVID19; this part is completed: @ProfBhargava pic.twitter.com/elaemelmcG
— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) June 11, 2020
As per ICMR, the population-based survey was done in 83 districts, covering around 28,000 households with a sample size of about 26,400 people. The survey was broad-based, covering urban-rural clusters, villages, and urban wards in 15 districts.
Reportedly, the second part of the study, which may provide details of immunity of the general population in hot spots, may provide significant information.
‘The data for the second part is still being collated, and what we have seen so far is that infection in containment zones is high with significant variations,’ said Dr Bhargava.
