A private lab revealed after it conducted a sero survey
(Photo: AFP)
One in every four persons in the city has developed antibodies to prevent COVID-19 infections at a time when Bengal has already registered around 1.87 lakh novel coronavirus including 3715 deaths till 8 September.
A private laboratory having its chain across the country has revealed this after it conducted a sero survey among around 3.5 lakh people in states and union territories recently.
According to the survey, the number of recovered novel coronavirus cases in India has been increasing gradually as more and more people are developing antibodies to fight the killer disease.
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In Kolkata, sero survey done by the private lab claimed that one in every four people in the city has coronavirus antibodies.
Around 26 per cent of Kolkata’s population and 23 per cent of Bengal’s population may already have COVID-19 antibodies after being exposed to the virus, the survey claimed to add that the country-wide study stands at 27 per cent.
A total of about 9,050 people in the city as well as 22,589 people across West Bengal respectively were brought under the sero-surveillance programme conducted by the lab.
In India, Bengal is 12th in developing antibodies among its people while Bihar tops the list recording around 32 per cent antibodies.
“This is a blood-based pathological test, similar to those done to detect other viruses like HIV, HBV or HCV. The test finds out whether a person has got infected ever for that virus or not. In the case of COVID, too, it tells us if the person has got exposed to the virus in the days, weeks or months leading to the test,” a senior official of the laboratory said.
Herd immunity may be one of the solutions for the COVID-19 situation until a vaccine is available, felt experts who are treating coronavirus patients in the city.
According to Dr Rahul Jain of Belle Vue Clinic, herd immunity will be achieved if 50-60 per cent people turn seropositive across the country.
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