COVID-19: 24.19% seroprevalence found in Punjab's 12 districts, finds serosurvey

Chandigarh, December 11 

A serosurvey conducted in Punjab’s 12 districts has found 24.19 per cent seroprevalence among the population in view of the COVID-19 outbreak, an official statement said on Friday.

The recent survey involving a sample of 4,678 people was conducted among randomly selected districts and population of the state, Health Secretary Hussan Lal said in a statement.

Nearly 96 per cent of the people were found asymptomatic.

According to the statement, 24.19 percent of Punjab’s population has been infected by coronavirus, as per the second serosurvey conducted in 12 districts of the state.

In the urban areas, seroprevalence was found among 30.5 per cent of the population, while in rural areas, the percentage was 21 per cent. In Ludhiana, the seroprevalence was found in 54.6 per cent of those surveyed with 71.7 per cent in urban pockets alone.

The survey was also conducted in districts like Ferozepur, Jalandhar and SAS Nagar (Mohali).

“Female positivity was found to be higher in both urban and rural areas in the survey,” the statement said.

Each district was assigned the task of completing a sample size of 400, with 200 samples each from rural and urban areas, it said.

A serosurvey involves testing the blood serum of a group of individuals for the presence of antibodies against the infection to know who has been infected in the past and has now recovered.

Last month, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh gave the go-ahead for the second serosurvey to be conducted across a larger sampling area to assess the spread of coronavirus in the state.

At a virtual COVID-19 review meeting last month, the chief minister had agreed with health experts on the need to find the extent of spread of SARS CoV-2 outside the containment zones, in contrast with the first serosurvey that was conducted in August in five containment zones across five districts.

The first survey conducted in one containment zone each in Patiala, SAS Nagar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar had found 27.8 per cent seroprevalence. — PTI