97 Per Cent Of Delhi Has Covid Antibodies: Sixth Sero Survey

New Delhi: The sixth serological survey showed that the national capital had a seropositivity rate of 97 per cent, Delhi Health Minister said on Thursday (October 28). All districts were found to have a seroprevalence of more than 95 per cent, he said. Women had a higher seropositivity rate than men. Those aged below 18 had a seropositivity rate of 88 per cent, while those aged above 18 had a seropositivity rate of 97 to 98 per cent, Mr Jain told reporters.

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The people who have been vaccinated had a seropositivity rate of over 97 per cent, while those who have not been inoculated had a seropositivity rate of 90 per cent, he added.”This was the largest sero survey carried out and 28,000 samples were collected,” he said. This is the first survey to be done after Delhi was hit by a brutal second wave of the Covid pandemic in April and May.

The fifth round of sero survey conducted in January had shown that 56.13 per cent of the people in Delhi had developed antibodies against COVID-19. In April and May, Delhi battled a brutal second wave of the pandemic that claimed a massive number of lives with oxygen shortage and reduced supplies of essential medicines at hospitals adding to the problem.

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On April 20, Delhi had reported 28,395 cases, the highest in the city since the beginning of the pandemic. On April 22 the case positivity rate was 36.2 per cent, the highest so far. The highest number of 448 deaths was reported on May 3.

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity,  that is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.