The collaborative study conducted jointly by CSIR institutions of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) revealed a conservative estimate of the number of active cases shedding the virus may be around 2.6 lakh.
Representational image (Photo: IStock)
A study of sewage water samples has put the number of potentially infected people in Hyderabad at 6.6 lakh in a city of roughly one crore population, including , symptomatic, asymptomatic and recently recovered patients within a time span of 35 days.
The collaborative study conducted jointly by CSIR institutions of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) revealed a conservative estimate of the number of active cases shedding the virus may be around 2.6 lakh.
Individuals infected by the virus is not only through nasal and oral routes but also through faeces which is noninfectious and suitable for epidemiological study and hence gives an opportunity to use sewage water samples to estimate the spread of the infection.
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“Our findings clearly indicate a large proportion of the affected individuals are asymptomatic and did not need hospitalisation. This is in agreement with the observation that hospitalisation rush or mortality is way lower than otherwise expected with such a large infection rates at a given time.
“It explains why our healthcare system has been able to handle reasonably well the situation during the pandemic,” explained Dr Rakesh Mishra, director, CCMB. The study covered 80 per cent of the sewage plants in Hyderabad and revealed there two lakh people shedding viral materials.
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