Sixth sero survey: More women with Covid antibodies than men

New Delhi: Health Minister Satyendar Jain announced the results of the sixth serological survey in the Capital on Thursday, declaring that four districts showed seropositivity of above 99 per cent, with the data showing that more women in the city had developed Covid-19 antibodies than the proportion of men sampled for the study.

The sixth serological survey has found that 97 percent of people sampled in Delhi have developed antibodies against coronavirus, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said, adding that Central, North-East, South and East districts threw up seropositivity of 99.5 per cent, 99.7 per cent, 99 per cent, and 99.8 per cent, respectively.

All districts in the capital have a seroprevalence of more than 93 percent.

Given these results from the latest survey, questions were asked of the minister whether it can be said that Delhi had achieved herd immunity, to which Jain said only experts can declare such a thing.

"We cannot say exactly if Delhi has achieved herd immunity because there are no studies or data to show that the virus won't spread after a certain percentage of population is affected," according to an official. "However, the same variant of the virus (Delta) cannot lead to a major epidemic. So, we can say there won't be another wave of coronavirus as big as the fourth wave until a new severe variant emerges," the official added.

"Women (90.1 percent) have a higher seropositivity rate than men (88.2 percent). Those aged below 18 have a seropositivity rate of 88 per cent," Jain told reporters here. "The sero survey has given a positive result. Almost all vaccinated people (with a history of infection) in Delhi have antibodies," the minister said. Ninety-five percent of the vaccinated people who have a history of COVID-19 infection have developed antibodies as compared to 82 per cent unvaccinated ones.

According to data from CoWin app, over 2.03 crore vaccine doses have been administered in Delhi since the inoculation exercise started on January 16. Over 73 lakh people have received both doses.

The Delhi government had collected 28,000 samples under the sixth serological survey last month in the first such survey after the brutal wave in April this year.

The January serosurvey had shown 56.13 per cent of the population had developed Covid antibodies.

On Thursday, the Delhi government reported 42 fresh Covid cases and zero deaths from the virus. A total of 63,174 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, leaving a daily positivity rate of 0.07 per cent. Active cases in the city have now reached 345 and the death toll is at 25,091.