The sero-survey of SARS-CoV-2 infection among the pediatric population of Mumbai was conducted by BYL Nair Hospital and Kasturba Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory of BMC on the background of imminent danger of the third wave to the pediatric population. The survey has found that more than 50 per cent of the pediatric population in a health care settings has antibodies to COVID-19, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a press release. Moreover, it is found that, the proportion of pediatric population having antibodies increased as compared to earlier sero-survey, it added.
The sero-survey was conducted during 1st April 2021 to 15th June 2021. Across 24 wards of Mumbai, total of 2,176 blood samples were collected from pathology laboratories including 1,283 from Aapli Chikitsa Network and Nair Hospital of BMC and 893 from network of two private labs.
The key findings of this study suggest that more than 50% of the pediatric population in a healthcare setting have already been exposed to SARS-COV-2. The overall sero-positivity is 51.18% including 54.36% from public sector and 47.03% from private sector, the BMC said. Seropositivity is highest in the age group 10-14 years i.e. 53.43%, it added.
The Sero-positivity rate of 1 to 4 years is 51.04%, 5 to 9 years is 47.33%, 10 to 14 years is 53.43%, 15 to 18 years is 51.39%. The overall Sero-positivity rate of 1 to 18 years is 51.18%.
The BMC further said there is a "notable increase" in the seropositivity of pediatric population in this study compared to previous conducted in March, 2021.
“The last survey showed a sero-positivity of 39.4% in the age group of ≤ 18 years which indicates that a significant proportion of children accessing the healthcare services were exposed to the virus during the second wave of COVID-19," the Mumbai civic body said.
