A sero-survey released by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has found over 50 per cent of the pediatric population (which is usually defined in India as those below and up to the age of 18) have antibodies against COVID-19.
The findings come ahead of a third wave that many anticipated would hit children and minors, due to them being left out of the vaccine net as India races to inoculate its adult population, the elderly and healthcare workers against the virus.
The Sero-survey of SARS-CoV-2 infection among the pediatric population of Mumbai was conducted by BYL Nair Hospital and Kasturba Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory of BMCbetween April 1 and June 15 of this year. 2,176 blood samples were collected across 24 wards of Mumbai including 1,283 from Aapli Chikitsa Network and Nair Hospital of BMC and 893 from network of two private labs.
“The overall sero-positivity is 51.18% including 54.36% from public sector and 47.03 per cent from private sector. Seropositivity is highest in the age group 10-14 years (53.43 per cent)” the report says.
ALSO READ: COVID-19 in children: Symptoms to look out for and how you can treat it at home
For children between 1-4 years, sero-positivity was 51.04 per cent; 5-9 was 47.33 per cent; 10-14 was 53.43 per cent, 15-18 was 51.39 per cent.
“ There is a notable increase in the seropositivity in the pediatric population to SARS-CoV-2 in this study as compared to Serosurvey 3 conducted in March 2021 which showed a sero-positivity of 39.4% in the age group of ≤ 18 years” it states.
