THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The fourth serosurvey of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body for medical research, found that a much less percentage of people in the state were infected with Covid as compared to the national average.
The survey took samples to identify whether people have developed antibodies against the infection. The antibodies can be developed by way of infectthrough vaccines. While 67.6% people have developed antibodies nationally, only 42.7% have antibodies in Kerala.
The samples were collected from three districts — Ernakulam, Palakkad and Thrissur. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the survey vindicated the effectiveness of the state's Covid control measures and that Kerala has not been missing that many infected persons.
"Going by the survey, there is one positive person when 28 people are checked nationally. But the survey found one person positive in every five tested. It shows that we are in the right direction with regard to testing," he said.
He said timely treatment could be given because of the effectiveness in identifying the positive cases.
"It also helped in limiting the number of people admitted in Covid hospitals and ICUs to 25,000 during the second wave. At any stage, the number of patients had never increased beyond the capacity. Naturally, the Covid deaths are also low," he said.
The survey also pointed to the fact that a large number of the population could still be susceptible to the infection.
TNIE reported on July 22 how the presence of a large number of susceptible population would lead to high new positive cases when daily cases have declined in other states.