Covid Superspreaders
Study reveals Covid superspreaders triggered massive outbreak in India: Report
New Delhi/IBNS: Coronavirus superspreaders, about 8% of India's confirmed cases, led to the explosion of Covid-19 in India, according to researchers, a Bloomberg report said.
This small group of patients caused almost two-thirds of its total infections, a study published in the journal Science revealed based on tracing more than 3 million contacts in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu through August 1, informed the Bloomberg report.
This is the first major study of transmission in a developing country led by Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy who wrote the study.
The researchers noted that the risk of getting severely ill and dying from Covid is higher owing to a lack of health infrastructure in the developing and underdeveloped countries.
Unlike the super-spreader minority, the 71 per cent of confirmed cases whose infection trail was checked weren't found to have spread the infection to anyone, the study showed.
"We've never had this degree of information to say, hey, some people are really transmitting the virus in a massive way," Laxminarayan was quoted as saying in the Bloomberg report.
The report also said that a nationwide serological study revealed that one in 15 Indians have been exposed to coronavirus.
India ha recorded over 60 lakh coronavirus cases so far.
First SARS-CoV-2 infections were detected on March 5 in the states where the study was conducted.
The Bloomberg report said health workers traced 80 contacts per confirmed case, using skills and resources developed in routinely tracking potential transmitters of HIV and tuberculosis, Laxminarayan said.
The report noted that SARS-CoV-2 superspreaders transmitted the virus during prolonged close contact on buses, trains and other forms of transportation, according to the researchers, including those from Princeton University, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Indian state governments, the report added.
The research stated that in such conditions there was a 79 per cent chance of contracting the infection.
It also found that children under 14 were silent spreaders to their parents and their friends.
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