India survey finds a quarter of children may have COVID antibodies, more than average (updated)

Thyrocare Technologies

04/02/2021 13:19

* 25.3% of children between 10-17 may have contracted
COVID-19
    * Government survey says overall, 21.5% people may have
antibodies
    * Nearly 46% of 9.6 million healthcare vaccinated since Jan.
16

 (Adds details)
    By Krishna N. Das and Neha Arora
    NEW DELHI, Feb 4 (Reuters) - More than a quarter of Indian
children aged between 10 and 17 may have already contracted
COVID-19, according to a government serological survey released
on Thursday, higher than the 21.5% of the overall population
found to have been infected.
    The survey of more than 35,700 people above 10, conducted in
the last two months, gave a much lower estimate for the average
number of people to have contracted COVID-19 than other
research.
    Separate tests done on more than 700,000 people across India
by diagnostics company Thyrocare Technologies  THYO.NS  showed
55% of the country's 1.35 billion people may have already been
infected, its chief told Reuters last week.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2K819R
    India has officially reported 10.8 million infections, the
world's highest after the United States, though its cases have
come down sharply since a mid-September peak of nearly 100,000.
    The national survey, however, suggests that more than 290
million people may have already been infected in the country.
    "The overall picture still shows that more than 75% of the
population even now can get infected," said Vinod Kumar Paul,
who heads a government group of experts on vaccine strategy,
urging people to keep maintaining social distancing and wearing
masks.
    Among 7,171 randomly-tested healthcare workers, 25.7% were
found to have developed antibodies. Capital New Delhi said this
week it was approaching herd immunity through natural infection
as 56% of its residents had COVID-19 antibodies.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2K819R
    The federal government also said nearly 46% of the country's
9.6 million registered healthcare workers had been given the
first vaccine dose since an inoculation campaign began on Jan.
16.
    India, which wants to vaccinate 300 million people by August
in both government and private hospitals, recently started
giving shots to other frontline workers such as police
personnel, and would soon start covering the elderly, Health
Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told a news conference.
    The drive, touted by the government as the world's biggest,
has been started with two vaccines: one licensed from Oxford
University-AstraZeneca  AZN.L , and another developed at home by
Bharat Biotech and the state-run Indian Council of Medical
Research.
    The next in line for approval are Russia's Sputnik V and
Cadila Healthcare's  CADI.NS  ZyCov-D. Pfizer Inc  PFE.N  and
partner BioNTech  22UAy.DE  have also sought a similar approval.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2JX1SW
    India on Thursday reported 12,899 new COVID-19 cases. Deaths
rose by 107 to 154,703 - one of the lowest fatality rates
anywhere.

 (Additional reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra; editing by Raissa
Kasolowsky)
 ((Krishna.Das@tr.com; +91 987111 8314;))