87% of people in Tamil Nadu have anti-bodies against Covid-19, says sero survey

The overall sero-prevalence in Tamil Nadu among the people over and above the age of 18 has increased to 87 per cent in December 2021, the Health Department said on Wednesday.

The sero-positivity rate in Chennai stood at 88 per cent, the study conducted in December 2021 across the State revealed.

According to the data shared by the Health Department, the sero-prevalence which was at 32 per cent in November 2020 (first sero survey) dropped to 29 per cent in April 2021 (second sero survey) and again surged to 70 per cent in August 2021 (third sero survey).

"In December 2021, it grew to 87 per cent," the findings said.

A 30-member team was formed into 1,076 groups which examined 32, 245 people in rural and urban areas for the study.

Accordingly, the sero-prevalence among the people aged above 18 grew to 87 per cent, it said.

However, the study revealed those individuals between the age of 11 and 18 and the unvaccinated had just 68 per cent of sero-prevalence.

The findings revealed that among the 27,324 people who received the vaccination shots, the sero-prevalence was at 90 per cent (24,667 people) while 4,921 people who did not receive the vaccination, the sero-prevalence was at 69 per cent.

As per the study, sero-prevalence stood at 89.5 per cent for people between the age of 18 and 44 while it was 88.6 per cent for people between the age of 45 and 59.

For those above the age of 60, the sero-prevalence stood at 84.5 per cent. For children between 10 and 18, it stood at 68.4 per cent.

All the districts reported sero-prevalance of over 82 per cent with Tiruvarur topping the list at 93 per cent while Tirupathur was at the bottom of table at 82 per cent, it said.