73% population of Odisha has developed antibodies against COVID: ICMR survey

At least 73 percent of Odisha's population and over 93 percent of health workers have developed antibodies against SARS-CoV2, according to a recent serosurvey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The survey was conducted in 12 of the state's 30 districts between August 29 and September 15 by experts of ICMR's Regional Medical Research (ICMR), Bhubaneswar with help of the Health and Family Welfare Department of the Odisha government.

The survey was conducted in the districts of Sambalpur, Sundergarh, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Khurda, Puri, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, and Nabarangpur.

Sanghamitra Pati, Director of RMRC, Bhubaneswar said, of 5,796 samples collected from the community, it was found that 4,247 have antibodies. Similarly, 1,232 health workers out of 1,312 samples collected, have developed the antibodies, she said.

''We found 73.5 percent seroprevalence among the community and 93.9 percent among the healthcare workers,'' Pati said, adding that of the 12 surveyed districts, Khurda district has the highest seroprevalence of 80 percent followed by Jajpur, Mayurbhanj, and Jharsuguda (around 68 percent).

In terms of age groups, the RMRC director said: ''Seventy percent of people in the 6-10 year age group, 74 percent of 11-18 age group, 75 percent of 19-44 age group, 72 percent 45-60 age group and 66 percent above 60 years of age have the antibodies''.

Among the seropositive adults, around 66.5 percent had received at least the first dose of vaccine, she said, adding that the study also found that 25.6 percent are fully immunized, 41.4 percent are partially vaccinated and 33 percent are unimmunized.

Pati said there is no major difference in the seroprevalence and vaccination coverage among urban and rural areas of Odisha.

RMRC survey also revealed that 48 percent of women have received both doses of the vaccine while its ratio is 45.6 among men.

There is no marked difference in the seroprevalence after vaccination against COVID in rural and urban areas of the state. While 72.7 percent seroprevalence was detected among the rural population, it was 73.7 percent among urban people. Similarly, there is no difference in antibodies in men and women. There was also no difference in developing antibodies after taking Covaxin and Covishield vaccines, the director said.

Among seropositive persons, 13 percent of people reported symptoms suggestive of COVID-19, and 23 percent had previously tested positive.

Director of Health Service, Dr. Bijay Mohapatra said that the possible third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic may not cause much damage in the state as over 73 percent of the population has already developed antibodies against the highly infectious disease like COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Odisha on Monday logged 444 new COVID-19 cases taking the state's tally to 10,24,764 while five fresh fatalities pushed the coronavirus death toll to 8,180, a health department official said.

Of the new COVID-19 cases detected, 59 were in the age group of 0 to 18 years. The rate of infections among children and adolescents now stands at 13.28 percent. While 258 of the new cases came from quarantine centers, the remaining 186 were local contacts.

Khurda district of which the state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, reported the highest of 170 new infections, followed by Cuttack (73) and Mayurbhanj (37). Seven districts - Boudh, Gajapati, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur, reported nil cases.

The five fresh fatalities were reported from Nabarangpur (2) and Sundergarh (3). This apart, 53 other COVID-19 patients have also died in the state so far due to comorbidities, he said.

The state currently has 5,702 active COVID-19 cases while as many as 10,10,829 patients including 646 on Sunday, recovered from the infections. The state's daily test positivity rate is 0.70 as 444 reported positive out of 62,715 samples tested for COVID-19 on Sunday. The TPR was 0.86 percent on Sunday, 0.83 percent on Saturday, 0.78 percent on Friday, and 0.89 percent on Thursday.

The state has thus far conducted over 1.97 crore sample tests including 62,715 on Sunday. Odisha's positivity rate stands at 5.17 percent.

Till Sunday, as many as 81,14,978 people have been fully inoculated against the COVID-19, he said.