Coronavirus: 19.7% of AP population unaware of being infected

Coronavirus has consumed the entire world in a very short span, and not a single country has been able to get out of the pandemic unscathed. While the hunt for a vaccine is still going on, several thousands of people are testing positive for the virus on a daily basis.

Recently, a sero-survey was conducted in Andhra Pradesh, to estimate the extent of spreading of the virus in the state. A sero-survey essentially gives an idea of how many people have been infected by a disease, with the help of the antibodies prevalent on a person’s body.

According to this survey, 19.7% population of Andhra Pradesh has contracted Coronavirus, and have even healed on their own. They have been completely oblivious to the fact that they had come in contact with the virus, as they self-medicated without any external help. This would mean that the levels of herd immunity are increasing in the population. Herd immunity has been named as one of the methods by which a country can get out of this pandemic, while a vaccine is still being researched for. However, this doesn’t mean that herd immunity is the ultimate solution.

This sero-survey was done in two phases – the first survey was done in East Godavari, Krishna, Nellore and Anantapur from August 5 to 15, with 3,500 random samples. The second survey was done in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, West Godavari, Guntur, Prakasam, YSR Kadapa, Chittoor and Kurnool from August 26 to 31, with 5,000 samples.

Among the total samples that were tested, 19.5% are males, 19.9% females, 22.5% are from urban areas, 18.2% from rural areas, 20.5% from containment zones and 19.3% from non-containment zones. Additionally, 20.3% of the total samples also belong to high risk populations like old people and those with comorbidities.