We’re heading toward herd immunity: Docs after seroprevalence survey results

Doctors in Kashmir Thursday said that the Valley was heading toward herd immunity following revelation of a seroprevalence study on COVID-19 infection conducted by GMC Srinagar in Srinagar district.

The second round of seroprevalence study on COVID-19 infection conducted by GMC Srinagar in district Srinagar has revealed that 40.6 percent of the sampled population had developed antibodies.

President of one of the factions of Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK), Dr Suhail Naik said it seems that the Valley would attain herd immunity before a suitable vaccine is discovered.

“The survey looked at the levels of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies in 2361 and showed that those 959 samples were positive for IgG against SARS-CoV-2 giving a seroprevalence of 40.6 percent,” he said.

The survey sheds light on the overall picture of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and gives a better understanding of the pandemic picture.
Naik said the presence of IgG antibodies in blood samples indicate that all those persons had recovered from COVID-19 infection which they had contracted.

He said the survey depicts a manifold increase in seropositivity among the Srinagar population compared to the previous study conducted in June that had shown seroprevalence of 3.8 percent in Srinagar.

Dr Naik said the survey had clearly demonstrated that COVID-19 was more widespread in Srinagar city than what was believed.
Naik said the international scientific consensus was that it would take a community prevalence of 60-70 percent for herd immunity to develop and Srinagar had reached 40.6 percent.

“It seems it will take another 6 to 7 months for Srinagar to reach this stage. For now, the foremost thing to emphasize is that people shouldn’t get complacent,” he said.

He said that the results do indicate that people could cautiously continue their socio-economic activities while continuing to adhere to basic precautionary measures.

J&K has so far reported 1466 COVID-19 deaths of which 975 have been reported from Kashmir and 491 from Jammu division.

In entire J&K, Srinagar district has reported highest number of coronavirus deaths as well as cases.