Gajapati: Nearly 65% People Have Developed Antibodies against COVID-19 in Parlakhemundi, Reveals Serosurvey

Parlakhemundi: Nearly 65% people in Parlakhemundi Municipality area in Odisha’s Gajapati district have developed antibodies against the coronavirus, reveals the serosurvey.

The serosurvey conducted by the Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar (RMRC) with the support of the Health and Family Welfare Department and Gajapati district administration found that about two-thirds of surveyed individuals have antibodies against the SARS CoV-2 virus. The overall seroprevalence in the community is 64.67%.

Seroprevalence among high risk groups ranged between 40-85%. The seroprevalence was found about 53.1% among the Males while 65.9% among the females whose samples were tested, the study said.

Seroprevalence ranged from minimum of 44% in Ward No.2 to Maximum of 92% in Ward 12. All but 2 of the 15 clusters surveyed had a seroprevalence of over 50%. Five wards had a seroprevalence of over 70%, it further revealed.

Among the COVID warrior groups, Police Personnel had the highest seroprevalence (54%) followed by health care workers ( 49%). Females and those below the age of 40 years had a significant higher seroprevalence. The Seroprevalence increased with increase in family Size. The infection fatality rate seems to be much lower than the case fatality rate.

The survey was conducted from September 15 to 18 in 16 wards of Parlakhemundi Municipality. Multistage random sampling was done for selection of 984 samples from the community and 531 from the high risk groups, amounting to a total of 1515 persons including 1075 males from the town.

The seroprevalence is a good indicator and corresponds to the new infections falling in this region of the State.

The district administration has acknowledged the contribution of all stakeholders including the COVID warriors, the people of the district, media, employees of different departments and the regular support and guidance of the government in the fight against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Gajapati Collector Anupam Saha has sought the continued support from all stakeholders for containing the spread of COVID-19 by strict adherence to the guidelines issued by the government from time to time.

The district has so far recorded 3555 cases of coronavirus, of which 172 are active cases, according to the Health Department data.