Delhi: 79 Of 257 Recovered Covid-19 Patients Whose Blood Was Taken During August Sero Survey Had No Antibodies

A sero-prevalence survey conducted in Delhi during the first week of August has revealed that 79 of the 257 people who have already recovered from COVID-19 disease did not have any antibodies against the virus, reports Economic Times.

The sero survey conducted from 1-7 August involved around 15,000 representative samples from a total of 11 districts. These were tested for the presence of antibodies (IgG) effective against the COVID-19 disease. It was as a part of this study that the blood samples of 257 recovered patients had also been taken up to check for antibodies.

Meanwhile, antibodies against COVID-19 were found in a total of 29.1 per cent of the people in the aforementioned survey. The prevalence of antibodies was 28.3 per cent in males while it was 32.2 per cent in females.

The sero-prevalence on a region-wise basis was found to be 29.6 per cent in northeast district, 27.2 per cent in south district, 33.2 per cent in the southeast district and 24.6 per cent in New Delhi.

Out of the total samples, 25 per cent were collected from age group less than 18 years, another 50 per cent from the age group of 18-49 years and remaining 25 per cent from the age group of 50 years or above.

It should be noted that the people who had Covid-19 earlier but did not show antibodies during the survey might have contracted the disease several months ago and therefore their antibodies might have disappeared. However, according to experts, in most cases their memory T-cells would remember the virus and trigger an immune response if they are again attacked by the virus.