SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among the general population and healthcare workers in India, December 2020–January 2021. (July 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Murhekar, Manoj V.; Bhatnagar, Tarun; Thangaraj, Jeromie Wesley Vivian; Saravanakumar, V.; Kumar, Muthusamy Santhosh; Selvaraju, Sriram; Rade, Kiran; Kumar, C.P. Girish; Sabarinathan, R.; Turuk, Alka; Asthana, Smita; Balachandar, Rakesh; Bangar, Sampada Dipak; Bansal, Avi Kumar; Chopra, Vishal; Das, Dasarathi; Deb, Alok Kumar; Devi, Kangjam Rekha; Dhikav, Vikas; Dwivedi, Gaurav Raj; Khan, S. Muhammad Salim; Kumar, M. Sunil; Laxmaiah, Avula; Madhukar, Major; Mahapatra, Amarendra; Rangaraju, Chethana; Turuk, Jyotirmayee; Yadav, Rajiv; Andhalkar, Rushikesh; Arunraj, K.; Bharadwaj, Dinesh Kumar; Bharti, Pravin; Bhattacharya, Debdutta; Bhat, Jyothi; Chahal, Ashrafjit S.; Chakraborty, Debjit; Chaudhury, Anshuman; Deval, Hirawati; Dhatrak, Sarang; Dayal, Rakesh; Elantamilan, D.; Giridharan, Prathiksha; Haq, Inaamul; Hudda, Ramesh Kumar; Jagjeevan, Babu; Kalliath, Arshad; Kanungo, Srikanta; Krishnan, Nivethitha N.; Kshatri, Jaya Singh; Kumar, Alok; Kumar, Niraj; Kumar, V.G. Vinoth; Lakshmi, G.G.J. Naga; Mehta, Ganesh; Mishra, Nandan Kumar; Mitra, Anindya; Nagbhushanam, K.; Nimmathota, Arlappa; Nirmala, A.R.; Pandey, Ashok Kumar; Prasad, Ganta Venkata; Qurieshi, Mariya Amin; Reddy, Sirasanambatti Devarajulu; Robinson, Aby; Sahay, Seema; Saxena, Rochak; Sekar, Krithikaa; Shukla, Vijay Kumar; Singh, Hari Bhan; Singh, Prashant Kumar; Singh, Pushpendra; Singh, Rajeev; Srinivasan, Nivetha; Varma, Dantuluri Sheethal; Viramgami, Ankit; Wilson, Vimith Cheruvathoor; Yadav, Surabhi; Yadav, Suresh; Zaman, Kamran; Chakrabarti, Amit; Das, Aparup; Dhaliwal, R.S.; Dutta, Shanta; Kant, Rajni; Khan, A.M.; Narain, Kanwar; Narasimhaiah, Somashekar; Padmapriyadarshini, Chandrasekaran; Pandey, Krishna; Pati, Sanghamitra; Patil, Shripad; Rajkumar, Hemalatha; Ramarao, Tekumalla; Sharma, Y.K.; Singh, Shalini; Panda, Samiran; Reddy, D.C.S.; Bhargava, Balram; Anand, Tanu; Babu, Giridhara R.; Chauhan, Himanshu; Dikid, Tanzin; Gangakhedkar, Raman R.; Kant, Shashi; Kulkarni, Sanket; Muliyil, J.P.; Pandey, Ravindra Mohan; Sarkar, Swarup; Shah, Naman; Shrivastava, Aakash; Singh, Sujeet K.; Zodpe, Sanjay; Hindupur, Anusha; Asish, P.R.; Chellakumar, M.; Chokkalingam, D.; Dasgupta, Sauvik; Gowtham, M.M.E.; Jose, Annamma; Kalaiyarasi, K.; Karthik, N.N.; Karunakaran, T.; Kiruthika, G.; Dinesh Kumar, H.; Sarath Kumar, S.; Sarath Kumar, M.P.; Michaelraj, E.; Pradhan, Josephine; Arun Prasath, E.B.; Gladys Angelin Rachel, D.; Rani, Sudha; Rozario, Amanda; Sivakumar, R.; Gnana Soundari, P.; Sujeetha, K.; Vinod, Arya;
• Is Part Of: International journal of infectious diseases. Volume 108(2021)
• Page Start: 145
• Page End: 155
• Publication Date: 2021-07
• Subjects: SARS-CoV-2 -- COVID-19 -- IgG -- Seroprevalence -- India; Communicable diseases -- Periodicals; Communicable Diseases -- Periodicals; Communicable diseases; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 616.9
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.05.040
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1201-9712

Abstract

Highlights: By December 2020, 24.1% of the general population in India had been exposed to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). For every case of coronavirus disease 2019 detected, there were 27 infections. Seroprevalence was higher in urban areas compared with rural areas. By December 2020, 25.6% healthcare workers had evidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Abstract: Background: Earlier serosurveys in India revealed seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) of 0.73% in May–June 2020 and 7.1% in August–September 2020. A third serosurvey was conducted between December 2020 and January 2021 to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among the general population and healthcare workers (HCWs) in India. Methods: The third serosurvey was conducted in the same 70 districts as the first and second serosurveys. For each district, at least 400 individuals aged ≥10 years from the general population and 100 HCWs from subdistrict-level health facilities were enrolled. Serum samples from the general population were tested for the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against the nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S1-RBD) proteins of SARS-CoV-2, whereas serum samples from HCWs were tested for anti-S1-RBD. Weighted seroprevalence adjusted for assay characteristics was estimated. Results: Of the 28, 598 serum samples from the general population, 4585 (16%) had IgG antibodies against the N protein, 6647 (23.2%) had IgG antibodies against the S1-RBD protein, and 7436 (26%) had IgG antibodies against either the N protein or the S1-RBD protein. Weighted and assay-characteristic-adjusted seroprevalence against either of the antibodies was 24.1% [95% confidence interval (CI) 23.0–25.3%]. Among 7385 HCWs, the seroprevalence of anti-S1-RBD IgG antibodies was 25.6% (95% CI 23.5–27.8%). Conclusions: Nearly one in four individuals aged ≥10 years from the general population as well as HCWs in India had been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by December 2020.