An ICMR-led sero survey, conducted to monitor the spread of the coronavirus, has concluded that only 0.63 per cent people in Jharkhand have developed antibodies against exposure to the virus, indicating that there is no community transmission in the state.
The findings, shared by health department on Thursday, comes at a time when the state is seeing a rapid rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. On Wednesday, as many as 314 fresh cases were reported, the highest in a day so far.
According to the findings of the survey, the seroprevalence in Jharkhand ranges from 0.43 per cent to 0.9 per cent, which according to the government, is “very low”, and indicative of exposure of the coronavirus to less than one person per 100.
Random households and population samples from districts were selected for the survey by experts from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Government of India, a government document highlighting the Sero findings stated. The survey was conducted in May and June to check the prevalence of the coronavirus in Jharkhand, officials from health department said.
According to experts, Sero survey aims to collect serum samples from a relevant group of people to check if they have developed antibodies to fight an antigen, which in this case was the coronavirus. The survey is meant to indicate the extent to which the population of a district or a state has been exposed to a virus.
As per the survey results, Ranchi has the highest seroprevalence of 2.4 per cent. Surprisingly, East Singhbhum, the district which has reported the highest number of Covid cases in the state so far, has seroprevalence of zero per cent.
In June, the survey was conducted in 10 districts – Bokaro, Dhanbad, Dumka, East Singhbhum, Garhwa, Hazaribagh, Khunti, Palamau, Ranchi and West Singhbhum. In May, the survey was conducted in Pakur, Latehar and Simdega.
The findings, however, are contradictory to the opinion of many health experts, who have warned about community transmission in the recent past. Former director of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Dr D.K. Singh, who held the office till June, had opined that community transmission could be on in Jharkhand.
“Random survivors of road accidents, who have no travel history, are testing positive. This could be community transmission,” he had told this correspondent about a month ago.
Besides, the sample strength for the survey in June was only 4,761, which is a negligible percentage of the state's population. As per Census 2011, the state’s population is 3.29 crore.
Doctors say that high prevalence rate could also be a positive indication as it means that more people were developing antibodies to fight the virus.
Seroprevalence was highest among people between 40 and 49 years, the survey report stated. It was 0.96 per cent in the age bracket of 40-49 years and 0.73 in age bracket of 30-39 years.
The state health department has so far collected samples of 2 lakh people and tested 1.96 lakh of them. As per government data, there are 2,039 active cases of Covid-19 in Jharkhand. As many as 2,485 patients have recovered, but 38 people have died.
