Over 50% Children In Mumbai Have COVID-19 Antibodies: BMC Sero Survey
The BMC further said that there has been a "significant increase" in the seropositivity of pediatric patients in this study as compared to the previous study conducted in March 2021
Mumbai: A serosurvey conducted by BMC has revealed that over 50% of children in Mumbai have COVID-19 antibodies.
Conducted across 24 wards, the survey took place between April 1 and June 15, 2021, and looked at 2,176 blood samples received in laboratories for various medical investigations.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a press release that the survey has found that more than 50 per cent of the pediatric population in health care settings have antibodies to COVID-19. Furthermore, it has been found that the proportion of pediatric patients with antibodies has increased as compared to the earlier serosurvey.
The serosurvey was conducted from 1st April 2021 to 15th June 2021. In 24 wards of Mumbai, a total of 2,176 blood samples were collected from pathology laboratories, of which 1,283 were collected from BMC’s Aapli Medical Network and Nair Hospital of BMC and 893 from a network of two private labs.
The key findings of this study suggest that more than 50% of the pediatric population in healthcare has already been exposed to SARS-COV-2. The BMC said the overall seropositivity is 51.18%, which includes 54.36% from the public sector and 47.03% from the private sector. Seropositivity is highest in the age group of 10-14 years, i.e. 53.43%.
The seropositivity rate is 51.04% at 1 to 4 years, 5 to 9 years 47.33%, 10 to 14 years 53.43%, 15 to 18 years 51.39%. The overall seropositivity rate from 1 to 18 years is 51.18%.
The BMC further said that there has been a “significant increase” in the seropositivity of pediatric patients in this study as compared to the previous study conducted in March 2021.
“The last survey showed a seropositivity of 39.4% in the age group of ≤ 18 years which indicates that a significant proportion of children accessing the healthcare services were exposed to the virus during the second wave of COVID-19,” the Mumbai civic body said.
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