19.7% Andhra Pradesh population exposed to COVID-19: Sero survey

Vijayawada: According to the sero surveillance study conducted across Andhra Pradesh, 19.7 per cent of the state's population may have already developed COVID-19 antibodies. This indicates that they have been exposed to the virus and developed an immunity.

The sero survey, that was conducted in two phases, revealed that 19.5 per cent of the male population and 19.9 per cent of the female population in the state was already affected by COVID-19.

The commissioner of health and family welfare, K. Bhaskar, said the first phase of the survey was conducted between 5 and 15 August in Krishna, East Godavari, Nellore, and Anantapur districts, while phase II of the survey was conducted between 26 and 31 August in the remaining districts in the state.

Mr. Bhaskar said 5,000 samples from each district were tested during the survey. The report indicated that COVID-19 prevalence is high in urban areas where 22.5 per cent of samples tested positive for the virus. Only 18.2 per cent samples in rural areas tested positive for COVID-19.

The survey also revealed that 20.5 per cent of the general population in containment zones and 19.3 per cent of the population in non-containment areas tested positive for the virus. It also found that 20.3 per cent of the high-risk population were also affected by COVID-19.

In the second phase of the survey, Vizianagaram district in north Andhra Pradesh had the highest infection rate of 30.6 per cent followed by Kurnool with 28.1 per cent. The asymptotic positive rate in Chittor district was 100 per cent followed by Guntur and Prakasam districts with 98.5 per cent.

Also, 41.3 per cent of the samples tested at Vizianagaram district was under the high-risk category. Prakasam had the lowest high-risk cases with only 10 per cent of samples testing as high-risk.