India definitely not in community transmission stage: ICMR

India’s first sero-survey on COVID-19 spread has found that lockdown and containment measures were successful in preventing a rapid rise in infections, but an outsized proportion of the population still remains susceptible, the govt said on Thursday, asserting that the country isn’t within the community transmission stage

The sero-survey has two parts, the primary being, estimate fraction of population that has been infected with SARS-CoV-2 generally population and therefore the second being, estimate fraction of population that has been infected with the coronavirus in containment zones of hotspot cities, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Balram Bhargava said at a media briefing

The first part has been completed and therefore the second is ongoing, he said, adding that the survey was launched in May by the ICMR together with state health departments, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and therefore the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Bhargava said the study involves surveying of a complete of 83 districts with 26,400 people enrolling for it.

The figure that was shared with the media stated that data from 65 districts has been compiled till now

The sero-survey has found that 0.73 per cent of the population within the districts surveyed had evidence of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2, Bhargava said

?Lockdown and containment (measures) are successful keep it low and preventing rapid spread,? he said, citing the survey
However, it means an outsized proportion of the population remains susceptible and risk is higher in urban areas (1.09 times) and concrete slums (1.89 times) than rural areas, Bhargava said

It found that infection deathrate is extremely low at 0.08 per cent and infection in containment zones were found to be high with significant variations, but the survey remains ongoing, he said

Since, an outsized proportion of the population is susceptible and infection can spread, non-pharmacological interventions like physical distancing, use of mask or cover, hand hygiene, cough etiquette must be followed strictly, Bhargava said

Urban slums are highly vulnerable for the spread of the infection and native lockdown measures got to continue as already advised by the govt, he said.