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

At least 73 per cent of Odisha's population and over 93 per cent of health workers have developed antibodies against SARS-CoV2, according to a recent sero-survey conducted by 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 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 per cent seroprevalence among the community and 93.9 per cent among the healthcare workers," Pati said, adding that of the 12 surveyed districts, Khurda district has highest seroprevalence of 80 per cent followed by Jajpur, Mayurbhanj and Jharsuguda (around 68 per cent).

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

Among the seropositive adults, around 66.5 per cent had received at least the first dose of vaccine, she said, adding that study also found that 25.6 per cent are fully immunized, 41.4 per cent are partially vaccinated and 33 per cent 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 per cent of women have received both the doses of 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 per cent seroprevalence was detected among rural population, it was 73.7 per cent among urban people. Similarly, there is no difference in antibodies in men and women. There was also no difference in developing antibody after taking Covaxin and Covishield vaccines, the director said.

Among seropositive persons, 13 per cent people reported symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 and 23 per cent 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 per cent of the population has already developed anti-bodies 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 coronavrius 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 per cent. While 258 of the new cases came from quarantine centres, the remaining 186 were local contacts.

Khurda district of which 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 per cent on Sunday, 0.83 per cent on Saturday, 0.78 per cent on Friday and 0.89 per cent 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 per cent.

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