Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in India

• DOI: 10.4103/ijmr.ijmr_3290_20
• Publication Date: 2020-09-18T18:06:37Z
• Authors: Manoj V. Murhekar; Tarun Bhatnagar; Sriram Selvaraju; Kiran Rade; V. Saravanakumar; Jeromie Wesley Vi...; Muthusamy Santhos...; Naman Shah; R. Sabarinathan; Alka Turuk; Parveen Kumar Anand; Smita Asthana; Rakesh Balachandar; Sampada Dipak Bangar; Avi Kumar Bansal; Jyothi Bhat; Debjit Chakraborty; Chethana Rangaraju; Vishal Chopra; Dasarathi Das; Alok Kumar Deb; Kangjam Rekha Devi; Gaurav Raj Dwivedi; S. Muhammad Salim...; Inaamul Haq; M. Sunil Kumar; Avula Laxmaiah; (Major) Madhukar; Amarendra Mahapatra; Anindya Mitra; A.R. Nirmala; Avinash Pagdhune; Mariya Amin Qurieshi; Tekumalla Ramarao; Seema Sahay; Y.K. Sharma; Marinaik Basavego...; Vijay Kumar Shukla; Prashant Kumar Singh; Ankit Viramgami; Vimith Cheruvatho...; Rajiv Yadav; C.P. Girish Kumar; Hanna Elizabeth Luke; Uma Devi Ranganathan; Subash Babu; Krithikaa Sekar; Pragya D. Yadav; Gajanan N. Sapkal; Aparup Das; Pradeep Das; Shanta Dutta; Rajkumar Hemalatha; Ashwani Kumar; Kanwar Narain; Somashekar Narasi...; Samiran Panda; Sanghamitra Pati; Shripad Patil; Kamalesh Sarkar; Shalini Singh; Rajni Kant; Srikanth Tripathy; G.S. Toteja; Giridhara R. Babu; Shashi Kant; J.P. Muliyil; Ravindra Mohan Pa...; Swarup Sarkar; Sujeet K. Singh; Sanjay Zodpey; Raman R. Gangakhe...; D.C.S. Reddy; Balram Bhargava
• Keywords: Seroprevalence; Case fatality rate

Background & objectives: Population-based seroepidemiological studies measure the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection in a country. We report findings first round national serosurvey, conducted to estimate seroprevalence among adult population India. Methods: From May 11 June 4, 2020, randomly sampled, community-based survey was 700 villages/wards, selected from 70 districts 21 States India, categorized into four strata based on incidence reported COVID-19 cases. Four hundred adults per district were enrolled 10 clusters with one household. Serum samples tested for IgG antibodies using COVID Kavach ELISA kit. All positive serum re-tested Euroimmun ELISA. Adjusting design and serial test performance, weighted seroprevalence, number infections, case ratio (ICR) fatality (IFR) calculated. Logistic regression used determine factors associated positivity. Results: Total 30,283 households visited 28,000 individuals enrolled. Population-weighted after adjusting performance 0.73 cent [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.34-1.13]. Males, living urban slums occupation high risk exposure potentially infected persons seropositivity. A cumulative 6,468,388 infections (95% CI: 3,829,029-11,199,423) estimated India by early May. The overall ICR between 81.6 48.3-141.4) 130.1 77.0-225.2) 3, 2020 as plausible reference points IFR surveyed stratum, where death reporting more robust, 11.72 7.21-19.19) 15.04 (9.26-24.62) 10,000 adults, 24 1, deaths. Interpretation conclusions: Seroprevalence low around beginning 2020. Further local serosurveys are recommended better inform public health strategy containment mitigation epidemic various parts