New Delhi: The much-awaited findings of the country’s first national serosurvey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have said an estimated 6.4 million or over 64 lakh cases of Covid-19 were estimated in India by early May.
Carried out from 11 May to 4 June, the survey tested blood samples from 28,000 people across 21 states.
Sero-positivity was the highest in the age group of 18 to 45 years (43.3 per cent), followed by those between 46 and 60 years (39.5 per cent); it was the lowest among those above 60 (17.2 per cent).
A total of 64,68,388 adult infections were estimated in India by the early May, the survey said. The survey report said 0.73% or 64,68,388 adults were exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes the coronavirus disease.
“The findings of our survey indicated that the overall seroprevalence in India was low , with less than 1% of the adult population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by mid-May 2020,” the report said.
It added: “The low prevalence observed in most districts indicates that India is in early phase of the epidemic and the majority of the Indian population is still susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection.”