81.40% of Pimpri-Chinchwad’s population has antibodies against Covid: Sero survey

PUNE The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) which conducted a sero survey has found that 81

PUNE The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) which conducted a sero survey has found that 81.40 per cent of the population with a sample size of 10,000 has the presence of Covid-19 antibodies.

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The survey which also included the population of children was conducted from June 16-26 and was initiated by the medical team of Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital.

The samples included 200 clusters from 32 wards out of which 120 were from housing societies, 40 in slum areas and 40 from the tenement.

In the survey, it was found that the population living in slums in the Pimpri and Chinchwad had more Covid antibodies (82.5 per cent) than housing societies (80 per cent).

The antibodies were almost similar in women (81.5 per cent) and men (81.3 per cent).

“Survey shows the presence of a good amount of antibodies among all age groups. But precaution needs to be taken seriously as the “delta” variant is mutating if these antibodies are capable of fighting this variant is not confirmed by experts,” said Shirish Poredi, PCMC spokesperson.

Vijay Natarajan, chief executive officer, Symbiosis University Hospital and Research Centre (SUHRC), said, “The sero surveys cannot be reliable and the percentage of antibodies can be vary in next month.So it is advisable to undertake sero survey on regular basis to find out more accuracy on development of herd immunity which is more important.”

PCMC, meanwhile, conducted its first survey in October 2020 with a sample size of 5,000 during which antibodies were found in 37 per cent of its population

Age group; Presence of antibodies

6 to 18; 70.6%

19 to 44; 78.9%

45 to 60; 91.1%

Above 60; 90.5%

Overall presence of antibodies: 81.40%

(Source: PCMC)