Serosurvey: Experts wary over low infection in Dharwad district

HUBBALLI: The serosurvey conducted by state government showed only 8.7% of Dharwad’s population was exposed to Covid-19 by mid-September, the lowest in the state and experts say it’s hard to fathom why the district hasn’t seen a spike.
The survey tested samples from 440 people of which 7.1% showed they had developed antibodies and 2% had an active infection. Dr Mahantesh Nagamoti, professor of microbiology, JN Medical College, Belagavi, said it’s hard to reason why cases are declining, especially since it’s a new disease.
“There could be many reasons for such a low spread,” Nagamoti said. “It could be people are putting off visits to home of relatives and friends and socialising has reduced. People are also not dining out. Or it could be more than half the population follows safety protocol like wearing masks and maintaining social distance. People could have even become health conscious and are indulging in regular exercise, eating a balanced diet, using multivitamins and maintaining self-hygiene.”
He, however, said a bigger pool must be tested to find out if the district has achieved her immunity
Dr SS Patil, physician from Hubballi, said the district needs to establish facility-based surveillance to monitor the trend of infection. This can help local decision-making in fighting the pandemic, he said. Dr Patil, however, warned people not to drop their guard.