A serological survey carried out by the National Institute of Epidemiology in the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has found out that one-fifth of the city's population has been exposed to COVID-19.
The GCC tested 12,405 individuals from the corporation’s 51 wards of which 2,673 people or 21.5 per cent were found to have developed IgG antibodies to COVID-19, reported Hindustan Times. Of those tested, only 173 were found to have had a history of contact with a COVID-19 patient.
The study said that around 80 per cent of the population is still susceptible to the infection and there that there is a need to understand the reasons for varying seroprevalence across zones to improve the control measures.
“In zones where there is a high prevalence, more people have developed immunity so the virus transmission has been slower,” said corporation commissioner G Prakash.
“The data helps us to identify zones where prevalence is low so we can intensify measures to control the virus,” he added.
Meanwhile, Chennai reported 1,084 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. The tally rose to 1,36,697. The city accounted for 2,770 deaths.
Tamil Nadu reported 5,928 new COVID cases pushing the tally to 4,33,969, while the death toll stood at 7,418 with 96 more fatalities.
With 6,031 recoveries, the active cases stood at 52,379 and in total 3,74,172 people have got cured, a health department bulletin said.
