Second round of countrywide COVID-19 Sero survey completed: ICMR

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New Delhi: The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Sunday (September 20, 2020) informed that second countrywide serosurvey for COVID-19 has been successfully completed and the final phase analysis of the survey is now underway.

"The second round of countrywide serosurvey led by ICMR has been successfully completed. The final phase analysis of the survey is now underway and will offer a comparison with the results of the first survey #IndiaFightsCOVID19," the ICMR said in a tweet.

(1/4) The second round of countrywide serosurvey led by ICMR has been successfully completed. The final phase analysis of the survey is now underway and will offer a comparison with the results of the first survey #IndiaFightsCOVID19

— ICMR (@ICMRDELHI) September 20, 2020

ICMR said that the containment zones refer to a specific geographical area where positive cases of coronavirus are found are dynamic in nature and they do not fit into nationally representative sampling.

"The ICMR has been continuously communicating with the respective state authorities. The findings of the previous survey from the dynamic containment zones have been communicated to the states for further action. To further aid in developing state intervention plans, following the ICMR survey, states have also conducted their zone/city-specific surveys," it said in another tweet.

The first national sero survey which was published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research on September 11 had indicated that a total of 69.4% people were infected with coronovirus infection in rural villages in India.

It also pointed out that the Sero positivity was highest in the 18–45 years (43.3) age group, followed by the lowest seropositivity among those aged 46–60 years (39.5) and above 60.

The survey results showed that in rural areas (villages), the Sero positivity rate was the highest at 69.4 percent, while it was recorded at 15.9 percent in urban slums and 14.6 percent in urban non-slums.

The first survey was conducted from May 11 to June 4 in 700 villages and wards, in 70 districts across 21 states of the country. It covered 28,000 individuals whose blood samples were tested for IgG antibodies using COVID Kavach ELISA kit.