About one-third of the 4.5 lakh population under the jurisdiction of Berhampur Municipal Corporation in Odisha's coronavirus hotspot of Ganjam district has developed antibodies against COVID-19, a senior official said on the basis of sero-survey findings.
Dr Sanghamitra Pati, director of the ICMR-run Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), said about 1.5 lakh people of the area have developed antibodies after being exposed to novel coronavirus.
The serological survey was jointly conducted by RMRC, the Health Department and MKCG Medical College on 2,830 persons between August 3 and August 7.
Mentioning that the RMRC has already submitted its report to the state government, Dr Pati said, antibody testing was conducted in 25 randomly selected communities, including five slums, and among people falling in high-risk category.
"In communities, 31 per cent of those surveyed were found to have developed antibodies," Dr Pati said. Ninety per cent of those who had developed antibodies had no major symptoms, she said.
"Twenty-three per cent of the people in the high-risk category were found to have developed antibodies against COVID-19," Dr Pati said.
The infection fatality rate, which is an indicator of transmission, was also found to be 0.02 per cent, the RMRC director said.
Berhampur Municipal Corporation area has so farreported 2,185 positive cases out of Ganjam districtss caseload of 13,842. Of the 147 deaths in Ganjam, 28 patients hailed from Berhampur town.
The silk city has as many as 510 active cases while 1,647 patients have recovered so far. On the future plan of the RMRC, Dr Pati said, a serological survey had started from Puri town during RathaYatra festival.
It has been completed in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation limits. Presently, the survey is being carried out at Badamba-Narsinghpur area in Cuttack district. Later, such surveys will be conducted in Cuttack city, Rourkela city and Gajapati, she said.
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