21.5% of the population exposed to COVID-19: ICMR's 3rd nationwide serosurvey reveals

In a big development on Thursday, the ICMR released detailed findings of the 3rd nationwide serosurvey conducted from December 17, 2020, to January 8, 2021. Overall 21.5% of the population was found to be exposed to COVID-19 infection which includes 31.7% from urban slum, 26.2% from urban non-slum and 19.1% from rural areas. A general population of 28,589 individuals and 7,171 health workers spread across 700 villages/wards in 70 districts from 21 states were included in this survey. Moreover, 25.3% of the children aged 10-17 showed evidence of past exposure to the novel coronavirus.

The seroprevalence was highest among healthcare workers with 25.7%. While there was not much statistical difference between doctors, nurses, field staff and paramedics, it was higher among the doctors and nurses (26.6%) as against the administrative staff (24.9%). Presenting these findings to the media, ICMR Director General Dr.Balram Bhargava stressed that people cannot afford to be complacent in taking COVID-19 precaution measures as a large proportion of the population is still vulnerable. 

Read: Coronavirus Pandemic 'greatest Test Of Solidarity In Generations', Say World Leaders

Source: PIB India (YouTube)

Read: 'Pressed On Critical Issues': WHO Team Visits Wuhan Lab For Coronavirus Origin Probe

COVID-19 vaccination in India

On January 3, the Drugs Controller General of India accepted the recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, paving way for the approval of COVISHIELD and COVAXIN. Manufactured by the Serum Institute of India with technology transfer from Oxford University-AstraZeneca, COVISHIELD is a Recombinant Chimpanzee Adenovirus vector vaccine with its overall efficacy of 70.42 per cent. On the other hand, COVAXIN is a Whole Virion Inactivated Corona Virus Vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR and NIV.

It has been approved in "public interest" in the clinical trial mode so that there can be more options for vaccination in case of infection by mutant strains. Countering the charge that COVAXIN was approved hastily, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has made it clear that all the recipients of this vaccine will be tracked and monitored as if they are in clinical trial mode. On January 16, PM Modi launched the pan-India rollout of the novel coronavirus vaccination drive via video conferencing. Congratulating the citizens for their resilient fight against the pandemic, he requested them to shun conspiracy theories about the vaccines. As of 1.20 pm on Thursday, 45,93,427 beneficiaries have been inoculated.

Read: Coronavirus Variants, Viral Mutation And COVID-19 Vaccines: The Science You Need To Understand