E-Paper
Sero survey: 41-60 age group in Mumbai most exposed to coronavirus
City residents in the age group of 41-60 years have been most exposed to Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease (Covid-19), according to results of
City residents in the age group of 41-60 years have been most exposed to Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease (Covid-19), according to results of the second round of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) serological survey conducted in Mumbai in August. The age group is followed by those above 60 years living in slums.
Meanwhile, exposure has been the least in case of those older than 60 years who live in non-slums.
A sero survey is a study of how many people have antibodies (Immunoglobulin-G) against Sars-Cov-2 in their blood, indicating these people may have been silently infected and recovered, helping map the trend and spread of infection.
BMC tested 3,022 slum residents and 2,174 non-slum residents from all age groups, selected randomly from three wards – R-North (Dahisar, Borivli), M-West (Chembur), F-North (Dadar, Matunga, Wadala) – in the second half of August, under round two of the survey. This round revealed that 45% of slum residents and 18% non-slum residents who were tested were exposed to Sars-Cov-2.
The earlier round too was conducted in the same three wards in July. The idea is to understand the trend over the months.
A civic officer from BMC’s health department said, “Senior citizens living in non-slum areas are hardly venturing out to buy groceries or interact with the community and hence are more protected. Whereas senior citizens who live in slums have shown considerable exposure to the virus, as their homes are small, and people interact with each other. Overall, the age group of people who work, or are more likely to step out for chores, go for a walk, meet friends, is 41-60 years. Also, 25-40 age group has shown increased exposure. In non-slum areas, even those who are less than 24 years of age have shown exposure maybe due to fluidity of movement in the community.”
According to the report on results of round two (HT has a copy), the positivity rate of exposure to Sars-Cov-2 in the 41-60 age group in slum residents is the highest at 50.3%. Similarly, in case of non-slum residents, the highest positivity rate is in the same age group, at 18.6%.
In case of slum residents, second-highest exposure is seen among those above 60 years (48.2%), followed by 25-40 years (42.2%) and 12-24 years (40.8%). In case of non-slum residents, people in the 41-60 age group are followed by 12-24 age group (18.5%), and 25-40 (16.6%). The exposure in case of senior citizens living in non-slums is 13.2%.
Moreover, women have shown marginally more exposure than men – 46.2% of the 1,405 women in slums showed exposure, while 44.4% of the 1,619 men were positive. In case of non-slum residents, 17.6% of the 721 women showed exposure, while 16.7% of the 1,452 men showed exposure.
Mumbai on Tuesday recorded 1,625 new cases and 47 deaths due to Covid-19. The total number of cases has now gone up to 217,113, and total deaths to 9,202. Mumbai has 26,003 active cases as of Tuesday.
