The results of the first sero survey conducted by the Indian Council for Medical Research say that around 0.73% or 6.4 million Indian adults were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in early May, news agency PTI reported. The much-awaited findings of the first national sero survey in the country, conducted from May 11 to June 4 by the ICMR, was published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.

An estimated total of 64,68,388 adults in India were exposed to the coronavirus by early May, the survey report said.

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The survey, which covered 28,000 individuals, showed that seropositivity was highest among people in the age group of 18-45 years amounting to 43% of the total number of cases. This was followed by  those aged between 46-60 years (39.5%) and subsequently by those aged above 60 (17.2%).

“The findings of our survey indicated that the overall seroprevalence in India was low, with less than one per cent of the adult population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by mid-May 2020,” the report said.

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“The low prevalence observed in most districts indicates that India is in early phase of the epidemic and the majority of the Indian population is still susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection,” it added.

A total of  30,283 households were visited from 700 clusters in 70 districts were visited as a part of the survey, out of which 28,000 individuals consented to take it. About one-fourth (25.9 per cent) of the surveyed clusters were from urban areas. A total of 28,000 individuals consented to participate, the report stated.

Males living in urban slums and with occupations involving high risk of exposure to potentially infected persons were associated with seropositivity.