Over 3L already infected by Covid in Akola: Sero survey

Nagpur: Akola became the first district from Amravati division and second in Vidarbha to conduct sero surveillance to know Covid-19 prevalence in healthy people. First such survey was conducted in the region in Wardha between August 10 and 17. The survey in Akola was conducted between September 7 to 18 in rural as well as urban areas. Total 2,975 participants were tested, out of which 451 (15.16%) tested positive for antibodies.
This survey provides estimate of Covid-19 incidence in the population.This means, these many people were already infected by Covid-19 and developed antibodies without any medicine or treatment. Most of these people experienced either no symptoms or only very mild symptoms.
Akola district’s population is estimated to be 20 lakh in 2020. If 15.16% of it had already been infected and recovered as per the survey, then we can fairly say that more than 3 lakh people in the district have been infected already.
Officially, Akola district’s Covid-19 case count is less than 8,000. This means, the number of unreported Covid-19 cases could be over 37 times more than the known cases.
“District administration, GMCH Akola and public health department jointly conducted this survey between September 7 and 18. As per the standards of sero survey, we conducted blood samples of 2,975 people from different categories,” said district collector Jitendra Papalkar.
Out of the 2,975 samples, 1,970 were collected from rural areas while 1,105 from urban population. Apart from these, 635 samples were collected from high-risk groups that include police, doctors, health workers, and journalists. All age groups were covered in this survey.
“Overall, we can conclude that 15 out of every 100 citizens in the district have already been infected with Covid-19 and recovered without major symptoms. This means, major part of the population is still not infected and is at risk,” said Papalkar appealing to people to take every possible care to stay protected from Covid-19.
Doctors at biochemistry department of Akola GMCH told TOI that the survey was comprehensive. “Akola has already experienced a peak of Covid-19 cases in June-July and second peak-like situation in September. Now, Covid cases and deaths have once again reduced significantly. Even after two waves of infection, less than 20% population is infected, indicating we have a long way to go,” said a senior doctor from the biochemistry department.
In Nagpur, similar survey has just started and its results are expected in November.