BHUBANESWAR: Even as most parts of the State saw an unrelenting rise in Covid-19 caseload, two in every three persons surveyed in Parlakhemundi town of Gajapati district were found to have developed antibodies.
The serosurvey conducted from September 15 to 18 by the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) and in collaboration with the district administration and Parlakhemundi municipality revealed that 64.67 per cent (pc) individuals have antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2.
The sero-prevalence ranged from minimum of 44 pc in ward-2 to a maximum of 92 pc in ward 12. Two of the 15 clusters surveyed had a sero-prevalence of over 50 per cent.
Five wards had a sero-prevalence of over 70 pc.As per the survey report accessed by TNIE, sero-prevalence among high-risk groups ranged between 40 pc and 85 pc. Among Covid warrior groups, police personnel had the highest sero-prevalence of 54 pc followed by healthcare workers (49 pc).
“Interestingly, over 95 pc of the people did not have any symptoms and about half of them had already been tested for rapid antigen. However, 40 pc of those who tested positive by either RAT of RT-PCR did not show sero-conversion so far,” said an official associated with the survey.
Women and those below the age of 40 years had a significant higher sero-prevalence, the survey found. The prevalence increased with increase in family size. This corresponds to exposure to infection until August when around 31,500 people had developed antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The survey was conducted to monitor transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the general population and high risk groups of Parlakhemundi town by measuring prevalence of antibodies in order to ascertain the cumulative population immunity besides estimating the proportion of asymptomatic, pre-symptomatic and sub-clinical infection. Multi-stage random sampling was done for selection of 984 samples from the community and 531 from high-risk groups, amounting to a total of 1,515 samples.
Gajapati district has recorded 3,537 confirmed cases and 23 deaths so far. Parlakhemundi contributed 719 cases and six deaths. The infection rate seems to be much lower than the case fatality rate in the southern Odisha town.
Additional Chief Secretary of Health department PK Mohapatra said the Parlakhemundi sero-prevalence is a good indicator and corresponds to the new infections falling in this region of the State.
Survey findings
Sero-prevalence ranged from minimum of 44 pc in Ward-2 to maximum of 92 pc in Ward 12
2 of the 15 clusters surveyed had a sero-prevalence of over 50 pc
Five wards had a sero-prevalence of over 70 pc
Police personnel had the highest sero-prevalence (54 pc) followed by healthcare workers (49 pc)
Women and those below the age of 40 years had a significant higher sero-prevalence