19.7% People In AP Unaware That They Got Corona!

Surprising as it might sound, nearly 19.7 per cent of the people in Andhra Pradesh were affected with Covid-19 and got cured without even their knowledge!

This was revealed during a sero-surveillance study conducted by the state medical and health department.

The Sero-surveillance provides estimates of antibody levels against infectious diseases and is considered the gold standard for measuring population immunity due to past infection or vaccination. 

During the study, the authorities tested blood (serum or plasma) samples of thousands of citizens for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.

The study provided information on what proportion of the population may have acquired immunity to CoVID-19 and be able to track this over time. 

The survey was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, it was done in 3,500 random samples in East Godavari, Krishna, Nellore and Anantapur from August 5 to 15. 

In the second phase, study was done among 5,000 people in Srikakulam Vizianagarm, Visakhapatnam, West Godavari, Guntur, Prakasam, YSR Kadapa, Chittoor and Kurnool from August 26 to 31.

The overall survey results indicated that 19.7 per cent of the people had developed anti-bodies, indicating that they were not even aware that they had contracted Covid-19 and got cured without even taking medicines.

Among the total samples, 19.5 per cent of them are males, 19.9 per cent are females, 22.5 per cent of them are from urban areas, 18.2 per cent are from rural areas, 20.5 per cent are from containment zones and 19.3 per cent from non-containment zones and 20.3 per cent of the total samples were high risk population like old people and those with co-morbidities.

“The results help us in understanding the spread of infection and also helps us in planning of hospital and other COVID related infrastructure and helps in targeting our tests to yield better results,” health commissioner Kamaneni Bhaskar said.