The surge in coronavirus cases has reached a new record in India. In the last 24 hours, 70,101 fresh cases were reported from the country for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, taking the tally to over 2.8 million. While the scientists across the world are racing against time to develop a vaccine, countries are taking drastic measures to curb the spread of the virus. One of the possible strategies in the battle against the deadly virus is said to be herd immunity. And some reports are suggesting that we might already be on our way to achieving that.
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In what can be considered good news during the pandemic, at least one in every four Indians possibly have antibodies to fight the virus. The conclusion was drawn after COVID-19 tests were conducted by a national-level laboratory. Managing Director of Thyrocare, Arokiaswamy Velumani said that 24% of the 2 lakh-plus people tested across the country so far have antibodies. Around 29% of Delhi’s tested population and 20% in Maharashtra have been found to be sero-positive. Individuals testing sero-positive indicates that they were found to have a past history of the infection, suggesting that they had contracted the disease and recovered quietly.
According to scientists, having antibodies means that an individual is immune to COVID-19. However, the jury is still out whether this immunity is short-term or permanent, because there have been reports of people being infected again within months of recovering from COVID-19.
Earlier, it was reported that at least 60 or 70% of the population must be immune through vaccination or because they survived the infection to achieve herd immunity. But in a new development, some scientists are claiming that the threshold is likely to be much lower–50% or maybe even less. Even though India is still far from that, experts believe that Indian localities could be closer to herd immunity as compared to the other countries.
Dr Velumani explained that at 45% of sero-positivity, the COVID-19 curve will take a downward slope. “Our results show India at 24% positivity is getting closer to 35%, when plateauing of cases is known to happen. With positivity anywhere between 45%-50%, the virus becomes less impactful,” Dr Velumani added.
According to reports, experts also believe that cities like Delhi and Mumbai will achieve herd immunity first. A clear example of this is Mumbai’s Dharavi. Named as the country’s worst hotspot in April-May, the slum area has recorded near-zero transmission for the last two months. Maharashtra COVID task force member Dr Shashank Joshi also said that Indians are ‘immunologically stronger’.
Besides this, surveys done at the city-level by various civic corporations and some of India’s best research organisations like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research have also shown some positive results. While Pune, on Monday reported 50% sero-positivity in certain parts of the city, Mumbai’s slum areas showed 57% positivity.
According to Delhi’s first survey, over 23% of those tested were sero-positive. The survey, which is to be carried out every month, has already done its second run and the results are expected sometime this week.
With the world’s third highest COVID-19 tally, India is quickly inching towards the 30-lakh mark. Even though some reports are suggesting that we might be on our way to curb the spread of the virus, the number of people infected is continuously rising. Therefore, it is important that we still take all possible precautions to stay safe.
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