Nearly 45 lakh people got infected with COVID-19 in Delhi, got cured themselves ? indicates a sero-surveillance study conducted by the National Center for Disease Control [ NCDC]

It is a good news as well as a bad news. A sero-surveillance survey conducted by NCDC suggested that 23.48 %  people in Delhi were infected with COVID 19 and got cured with their own immunity—means they had no Symptoms and No underwent treatment.

The news is good because 23.48 % (nearly 45 lakh people) got infected with COVID-19 and their immunity cured them. The bad news is that there are still, nearly 74.52%  people who are likely to catch the virus.

A sero-surveillance study conducted by the National Center for Disease Control [ NCDC] in the collaboration did a  rigorous multi-stage sampling study from June 27 to 10^th July took nearly 21,387 samples and did their ELISA test.

The result revealed that almost 23. 48% have got infected with the COVID-19 virus at some point or the other. Most of the infected remain asymptomatic and get cured without their knowing it. If we expand this micro-level survey at the macro-level, it indicates that about 45 lakh people have got COVID-19.

This is the largest sero-surveillance survey conducted in India where blood samples were collected from selected individuals after taking written informed consent. Their sera were extracted from the blooded and was tested for IgG antibodies and infection using “COVID KAVACH ELISA” approved by Indian Council for Medical Research [ICMR].

The survey was conducted to see the presence of antibodies in the general population. These test performed is not a diagnostic test but only provides information about past infection due to COVID-19 (SARSCoV-2) in individuals who test positive. The survey generates important evidence for assessing the spread of the pandemic from time to time.

The prevalence of IgG antibodies in 23.48 % people, indicates that a large number of infected persons remain asymptomatic. This implies the following

Observations of the survey.

Nearly six months into the epidemic, only 23.48% of the people are affected in Delhi, which has several pockets of dense population. This can be attributed to the proactive efforts are taken by the Government to prevent the spread of infection including prompt lockdown, effective containment and surveillance measures, including contact tracing and tracking, as well as citizen’s compliance with COVID Appropriate Behaviours.

However, a significant proportion of the population is still vulnerable. Therefore, the containment measures need to continue with the same rigour. Non-pharmacological interventions such as physical distancing, use of face mask/cover, hand hygiene, cough etiquette and avoidance of crowded places etc., must be followed strictly.