Mumbai: Fifth Covid-19 sero-survey starts on July 15

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has said this survey will be crucial in anticipating a third wave of infections, and for vaccination.

The fifth serological survey to check antibodies against Covid-19 in Mumbai will start from July 15. The survey will cover people above the age of 18. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has said this survey will be crucial in anticipating a third wave of infections, and for vaccination.

According to BMC officials, the survey will take place in all 24 wards. “From each ward, samples of 150 people will be collected for testing antibodies. Based on the results of the last four surveys, it is expected that in the third wave, the population living in slums and children will be most infected. However, since more than 60 per cent of beneficiaries have got at least one dose of a vaccine, this could help in containment of the virus,” a senior official from BMC said.

The fourth sero-survey, which was conducted among the pediatric population, had shown about 50 per cent with antibodies against Covid-19.

The third sero-survey, which was conducted between February and March and covered 10,197 people, had shown that 36.3 per cent of the population had antibodies against Covid-19. In slums, there was a sero positivity of 41.6 per cent, while in non-slums it was 28.5 per cent.

The percentage of antibodies in people had dropped lower than in July 2020, when the first sero-survey was conducted. At the time, it was 40.5 per cent.

The first sero-survey showed 57 per cent population in slums had antibodies, which had reduced to 45 per cent in the second survey in August 2020.

Officials said the percentage of slum population with antibodies has consistently declined in last three sero survey which means they are more vulnerable.

The BMC had also initiated a study to find Covid-19 patterns in certain wards where infection was low throughout the pandemic.

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