The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday updating on the COVID-19 situation said that implications of 4th serosurvey clearly show that there is a ray of hope but there is no room for complacency.
ICMR DG Dr Balaram Bhargava while addressing a press confernce said "Implications of 4th serosurvey clearly show that there is a ray of hope but there is no room for complacency. We must maintain COVID appropriate behaviour and community engagement."
Explaining the serosurvey, the ICMR DG said that 10 percent of 7,252 healthcare workers haven't taken the vaccination. Dr Bhargava while addressing a press conference said "We studied 7252 healthcare workers and 10% had not taken the vaccine, the overall seroprevalence in them was 85.2."
Citing the data, he added that in conclusion, 2/3rd of general population i.e above the age of 6 yrs had SARS-CoV-2 infection.
In the fourth round of the national serosurvey, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) included children to assess their vulnerability towards Covid-19. The 4th round of national serosurvey was conducted in 70 districts in June-July and included children of 6-17 years of age.
Breaking down the statistics and figures, the ICMR DG revealed that overall seroprevalence is 67.6% in the entire population. In people of 6-9 years age group, it was 57.2%; in 10-17 years, it was 61.6%; in 18-44 years, it was 66.7%; while in senior category in 45-60 years, it was 77.6%.
He further said that there was no difference in seroprevalence in male and female and rural and urban areas. "In unvaccinated, the seroprevalence was 62.3% & with one dose of vaccine, it was 81%. In those who receive both doses, it was 89.8%," he added.
Saying, "National level serosurvey is not a substitute of state/district level serosurvey", Dr Bhargava asserted that implications of 4th serosurvey clearly show that there is a ray of hope but there is no room for complacency.
Meanwhile, India recorded 30,093 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 125 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,11,74,322, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.
The death toll climbed to 4,14,482 with 374 daily fatalities, the lowest in 111 days, while the active cases have declined to 4,06,130, the lowest in 117 days.
