Mumbai: Over 50 per cent of Mumbai’s population aged 1-18 years has antibodies for the novel coronavirus, which suggests they have been exposed to Covid-19, says a serological survey conducted by the city’s civic agency.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) conducted the survey amid concerns that a potential third wave of the pandemic could disproportionately impact children. For the survey, conducted by the BYL Nair Hospital and Kasturba Molecular Laboratory jointly from 1 April to 15 June, the BMC collected blood samples submitted at pathology laboratories for various medical investigations.
According to the results, shared with the media Monday, an overall seroprevalence of 51.18 per cent was found in those aged 1-18 years.
The results are based on a total of 2,176 blood samples collected across Mumbai’s 24 wards, extrapolated to represent the entire paediatric population of the city. The samples, collected from public as well as private laboratories, were transported to the Kasturba Molecular Laboratory.
“This is a significant increase in the seropositivity in the paediatric population as compared to the third serological survey conducted in March 2021. This indicates that a large proportion of children accessing healthcare services were exposed to the virus during the second wave of the pandemic,” said a BMC official.
The third serological survey in Mumbai had shown that 36.3 per cent of the overall population had antibodies against Covid. Within that, the under-18 age group specifically had a seroprevalence of 39.4 per cent.
A serological survey analyses the number of people who have developed antibodies to the virus, offering a rough estimate on how much of the population has been exposed to Covid-19.
The results of the BMC survey are similar to those of a study, covering almost the same age group in Delhi, Gorakhpur, Agartala and Bhubaneswar, released earlier this month. The study found seroprevalence among children in the 2-17-year age group to be 55.7 per cent.
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Population aged 10-14 yrs found to have highest seropositivity
With there being concerns of a possible third wave impacting the paediatric population to a larger extent, the BMC decided to conduct a serological survey of children in a healthcare setting during the second wave itself.
The BMC study revealed that the 10-14 age group had the highest seropositivity of 53.43 per cent, while the lowest, 47.33 per cent, was in the 5-9-year age group.
The population between one and four years had a seropositivity of 51.04 per cent, while the 15-18 population had a seropositivity of 51.39 per cent.
Mumbai has been one of the cities worst affected by the first two waves of the pandemic, but has also received national praise for speedily containing the second wave by ramping up medical infrastructure and decentralising bed allotment.
So far, Mumbai has recorded 7.2 lakh Covid cases. Of these, 8,582 are currently active. Mumbai has recorded 15,396 Covid deaths so far.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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