Sero positivity is increasing in non-slum areas and decreasing in slum pockets of Mumbai, as per a survey conducted by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. This matches the current trend of a large number of people from non-slum areas here testing positive for the viral infection amid the COVID-19 surge.
The sero survey also showed that women have more antibodies than men to the fight the coronavirus, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Saturday. As per the survey, there was 37.12 per cent sero positivity among women as against 35.02 per cent in men, it said.
Sero positivity entails a blood test showing a positive result for a particular antibody, officials said. "In the survey, 41.61 per cent sero positivity was found in the blood samples taken from municipal dispensaries in slum areas. Overall, 36.30 per cent sero positivity was found in 10,197 blood samples collected from citizens from all 24 wards in Mumbai," said the survey.
The first survey in July last year found 57 per cent sero positivity in slum areas of three wards, while the survey in August showed 45 per cent sero positivity in slum areas, a civic official said. "The blood samples taken from private laboratories in non-slum areas showed sero positivity of 28.5 per cent in the current survey. In the first survey conducted in July last year, this figure was 16 per cent for three wards and 18 per cent in the survey held in August," he said.
The latest sero survey, held in March this year, was carried out using the "unlinked anonymous sampling method" with blood samples collected from those who had not been vaccinated.
It was the third survey after similar exercises in July and August last year, a BMC release said. The samples were tested for antibodies at the
molecular biology laboratory located in the civic-run Kasturba Hospital premises here, it added.
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