Shocking revelation in BMC’s sero survey: 50% of children in Mumbai are corona positive, most of them between 10 and 14 years of age

Amidst the threat of third wave, a very shocking information is coming out from Mumbai. Antibodies have been found in about 50% of children here. This has been revealed in the report of the fourth sero survey of BMC which came on Monday.

According to the report, children in whom antibodies have been found have been infected with corona at one time or another. According to experts, this is also a relief. Due to the formation of antibodies, the risk of corona infection in these children has decreased during the third wave. According to the survey, 53.43% of children aged 10 to 14 years have been infected.

Sample taken of 2,176 children of 24 wards
The fourth sero survey was conducted by BYL Nair Hospital and Kasturba Molecular Diagnostics in Mumbai from 1 April 2021 to 15 June 2021 on the orders of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). A total of 2,176 children below the age of 18 years were included in this survey.

During this survey conducted in a total of 24 wards of Mumbai, it was found that antibodies have increased in children as compared to earlier. For the survey, the samples were divided into 1-4, 5-9, 10-14 and 15-18 age groups. It has been revealed in the survey that 53.43 percent of children aged 10 to 14 years have been infected the most. According to the report, a total positivity rate of 51.18% has been found in the sero survey.

According to the BMC, out of 2,176 samples, 1,283 were collected by Nair Hospital’s Apli Chikitsa network and 893 by Kasturba Molecular Diagnostics.

Key points of the survey

In view of the threat of the third wave, the survey has asked to emphasize on health education and measures to prevent corona infection. For this, emphasis has also been laid on the use of social media.

BMC going to conduct fifth sero survey soon
In view of the third wave of Corona, BMC is now going to conduct the fifth sero survey in Mumbai. This sero survey will be done on people above the age of 18 years. Through this it will be found out how many people have antibodies. This survey is being done in all 24 wards. In these samples of 4 thousand people will be taken.

BMC had conducted the first sero survey in July 2020 and the second sero survey in August 2020. After this, in March 2021, the third sero survey was conducted in all the 24 wards of BMC. After this, the fourth sero survey was done recently on the group below 18, whose report came on Monday.

Antibodies were found in 41.6% of the people in the slums
In the third sero survey, antibodies were found in 41.6% of the people in the slums, while in the first survey conducted in July, antibodies were found in 57% of these settlements and in the second sero survey conducted in August in 45%. At the same time, in the third sero survey, it was revealed that 41% more people in slums had corona infection than those living in buildings and they did not even know.

What is sero survey?
Sero survey is done by serology test. In this, the test is done by taking a blood sample. Antibodies made against a particular infection are tested. Whenever a virus enters your body, the body’s immune system makes antibodies against that virus. These antibodies stay in your blood for about a month.

It simply means that if antibodies are made in your body, then it means that you were recently infected with the virus.