Post Mumbai's serosurvey findings, BJP slams Maharashtra govt & BMC for its 'tall claims'

On Wednesday, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar slammed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and Maharashtra government for taking credit for the antibodies developed by residents. He was referring to the latest serosurvey conducted in Mumbai which showed that a considerable percentage of the population living in slum areas had already developed antibodies to fight COVID-19. According to Shelar, the high seroprevalence in the slums indicated a failure of the administration to ensure cleanliness and sanitation of public toilets.

He also lamented that the BMC had stopped the sanitization of buildings and the antibodies testing of one lakh people as demanded by BJP. On Tuesday, Mumbai recorded only 700 COVID-19 cases- the lowest single-day tally in over three months. Currently, there are 20,251 active cases in Maharashtra's capital city. 

BJP MLA Ashish Shelar remarked, "The truth has come to the fore after the NITI Aayog conducted antibody tests in three wards falling under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. 57% of the residents in slums themselves developed antibodies and 16% in buildings. A private lab’s report states that about 25% of Mumbai residents developed antibodies on their own. Overall, 40% of Mumbai residents having COVID-19 themselves developed antibodies. Then, what did you do? What is the basis of the tall claims by the state government and BMC? The cleanliness and sanitation of public toilets in slum areas were not undertaken. The sanitization of the buildings was stopped. The antibodies testing of one lakh people as demanded by us has not been undertaken. They should not take credit for the antibodies developed by people."

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Joint study to infer COVID-19 spread

The NITI Aayog, BMC, and TIFR joint commissioned a study to estimate the seroprevalence in the population based on the random sampling methodology to infer the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic. Conducted in the first half of July 2020, samples were collected from the R-North, M-West, and F-North wards of Mumbai. Antibodies were detected in 57% of the people in slums and 16% of the people living in non-slum areas. Seroprevalence was higher in women than in men. 

As per the findings, asymptomatic infections are likely to be a high proportion of all infections. Moreover, the higher infection in the slums has been attributed to population density and shared facilities. Additionally, the infection fatality rate was estimated to be very low- 0.05-0.10%. Meanwhile, better social distancing and access to hygiene has led to low seroprevalence in non-slum areas. 

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