A large proportion of population still vulnerable to Covid infection: ICMR

New Delhi: Noting that a large proportion of people are still vulnerable to the Coronavirus infection, the government said on Thursday that over 21 per cent of the population, aged 10 years and above, showed evidence of past exposure to COVID-19 in the ICMR's latest national serosurvey.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) third national serosurvey was conducted between December 7 last year and January 8.

Presenting the findings of the survey, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said 21.4 per cent of the 28,589 people, aged 18 years and above, surveyed during the period showed evidence of past exposure to the coronavirus infection. While 25.3 per cent of children aged 10 to 17 years from the same number of surveyed population have had the disease.

Urban slums (31.7 per cent) and urban non-slums (26.2 per cent) had a higher SARS-CoV-2 prevalence than that in rural areas (19.1 per cent), Bhargava said, adding that 23.4 per cent of individuals above 60 years of age had suffered from COVID-19.

Blood samples of 7,171 healthcare workers were also collected during the same period and the seroprevalence was found to be 25.7 per cent, the ICMR director general said.

The survey was conducted in the same 700 villages or wards in 70 districts in 21 states selected during the first and second rounds of the national serosurvey.

Among the surveyed male population, the sero-prevalence was 20.3 per cent, while it was 22.7 per cent among the surveyed female population.

The seroprevalence was 19.9 per cent in the age group of 18-44 years, 23.4 per cent among 45-60 years and 23.4 per cent among the surveyed population above 60 years of age.

Meanwhile, with 12,899 people testing positive for Coronavirus infection in a day, India's COVID-19 tally of cases rose to 1,07,90,183.

The recoveries surged to 1,04,80,455, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

The death toll increased to 1,54,703 with 107 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,04,80,455 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.13 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.43 per cent.

The total COVID-19 active caes remained below 2 lakh.

There are 1,55,025 active Coronavirus infections in the country which comprise 1.44 per cent of the total cases, the data stated.

According to the ICMR, 19,92,16,019 samples have been tested up to February 3 with 7,42,841 samples being tested on Wednesday.