{"id":120222,"date":"2021-07-21T18:53:26","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T13:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=120222"},"modified":"2021-07-21T18:53:26","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T13:23:26","slug":"explained-icmrs-fourth-serosurvey-and-its-findings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/explained-icmrs-fourth-serosurvey-and-its-findings\/","title":{"rendered":"Explained: ICMR\u2019s fourth serosurvey and its findings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Sources<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-icmr-covid-fourth-serosurvey-findings-7413949\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Indian Express<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GK48PN213.1&amp;imageview=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hindu<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livemint.com\/news\/india\/over-400-million-still-vulnerable-to-covid-19-icmr-survey-11626792674405.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Mint<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/68-of-indians-have-covid-19-antibodies-1\/3rd-vulnerable\/articleshow\/84599731.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Times of India<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/news\/health\/two-thirds-of-india-s-population-have-antibodies-against-novel-coronavirus-icmr-4th-serosurvey-78045\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Down to Earth<\/a><\/p>\n<h5><strong>About the news:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>The fourth nationwide <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/serological-surveys\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">serological survey<\/a> was conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in June-July. Its findings are significant because this is for the first time children aged 6-17 years were included in the national serosurvey.<\/p>\n<h5><strong>What is the ICMR serosurvey?<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p>The ICMR has conducted the fourth round of the national blood serum survey which tests for antibodies, known as a serosurvey, for Covid-19. The aim of the survey was to estimate the sero-prevalence of SARS-C0V-2 antibodies. Few important points to consider,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The survey only indicates past infections (which triggered an immune response) and is not used to detect active infections.<\/li>\n<li>The survey was conducted using IgG Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay(ELISA) test which has been approved by ICMR.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><strong>Key findings of the survey:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-120252 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ICMR-serological-survey.jpg?resize=550%2C433&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"ICMR serological survey\" width=\"550\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ICMR-serological-survey.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ICMR-serological-survey.jpg?resize=300%2C236&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ICMR-serological-survey.jpg?resize=1024%2C806&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/ICMR-serological-survey.jpg?resize=768%2C604&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The survey shows that <strong>one-third of the population does not have antibodies<\/strong>, which suggests that about 40 crore people are <strong>still vulnerable to the novel coronavirus<\/strong>. The survey also shows that<strong> two-thirds of Indians have been exposed to novel coronavirus<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>overall seroprevalence<\/strong> in the country was 67.6% in June and July, which is <strong>higher<\/strong> than the seroprevalence rate recorded during the three earlier surveys.\n<ul>\n<li>The sero-prevalence is similar in rural and urban areas for all age groups.<\/li>\n<li>85% of healthcare workers had antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and one-tenth of the healthcare workers were unvaccinated.<\/li>\n<li>The seroprevalence among vaccinated individuals is high as compared to those who are not vaccinated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Findings of Survey about Children<\/strong>: Antibody exposure is also similar in children as adults.\u00a0More than half of the children (6 -17 years) were seropositive. It means they have been exposed to Covid-19 in the past months.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><strong>Suggestions of the survey:<\/strong><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li>India needs to maintain <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/how-covid-19-can-be-addressed-via-covid-19-appropriate-behaviour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Covid-appropriate behaviour<\/a> and impose a curb on community engagements<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The governments <strong>should continue tracking Covid infection in severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases<\/strong> in district hospitals and <strong>identify clusters and clinical severity,<\/strong> while the <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/government-launches-indian-sars-cov-2-genomic-consortiainsacog-group\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics<\/a> is tracking variants of concern.<\/li>\n<li>The ICMR also suggested that it would be wise to consider <strong>reopening primary schools first, as children can handle viral infection much better <\/strong>(as they have a lower number of ace receptors). But this can be done only after the full vaccination of all the school staff. For instance, Some Scandinavian countries didn&#8217;t shut their primary schools in any wave of Covid-19 waves<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sources: The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Mint, Times of India and Down to Earth About the news: The fourth nationwide serological survey was conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in June-July. Its findings are significant because this is for the first time children aged 6-17 years were included in the national&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/explained-icmrs-fourth-serosurvey-and-its-findings\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Explained: ICMR\u2019s fourth serosurvey and its findings<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10311,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738,1305,9],"tags":[8542],"class_list":["post-120222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-index-reports-bodies","category-public","tag-icmrs-fourth-serosurvey-and-its-findings","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704904596},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10311"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}