CHENNAI: Data from the third phase of the State-wide cross-sectional seroprevalence ‘resurvey’ conducted in July and August this year revealed that 70 per cent of the population had been exposed to SARS-CoV-2.
According to a report on the survey conducted by the Directorate of Public Health shared on Thursday, of 24,586 samples from 827 clusters, 17,090 — or 70 per cent — had IgG antibodies against the virus.
Virudhunagar district recorded the highest seropositivity at 88 per cent, while Tenkasi (83pc), Chennai (82pc), Madurai (79pc), Theni (76pc) and Ramanathapuram (75pc) are the other districts with a seropositivity above 75 per cent.
Coimbatore, Erode and Salem, which were badly hit during the second wave, reported a seropositivity of 71 per cent, 70 per cent and 60 per cent respectively. The lowest seroprevalence was found in Karur at 51 per cent. Perambalur (58pc), Ariyalur (56pc) and Nilgiris (55pc) also reported seropositivity below 60 per cent.
The DPH had released an earlier iteration of the third phase of survey for July, according to which the seroprevalence was 66 per cent. Phase 1 of the survey conducted in October and November 2020 showed a seroprevalence of 32 per cent while in Phase 2, conducted in April 2021, it was 29 per cent.
Meanwhile, health minister Ma Subramanian said Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr R Narayana Babu is in New Delhi to seek permission from the Health Ministry for 800 MBBS seats as works at four more medical colleges have been completed. On X-ray reports being given on paper to patients at a Kovilpatti government hospital, he said: “Now, everything is digitised. Giving X-ray films has been stopped.”
He was speaking to reporters after the inauguration of two Pressure Swing Absorption oxygen plants at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital by Prime Minister Narendra Modi via a videocon.