84 per cent population in Kashmir has Covid19 antibodies

From 31 per cent at the end of 2020, the percentage of people who have been confirmed to have IgG-II antibodies in their blood samples has risen to 84.3.

Antibodies are produced in the human body as a response to an infection, symptomatic or asymptomaticAntibodies are also generated safely with vaccination.

The samples of 3,586 individuals collected in July from across 10 districts of Kashmir were analyzed for the survey, the report released Friday.

The IgG-II or the anti spike protein antibody are produced after infection with  SARS CoV -2 as well as after vaccination, the report read.

In addition, IgM antibody which is usually produced by recent infection with SARS  Cov-2 and can rarely also be produced in recent vaccination was detected in 20.75  per cent of participants.

Significantly, at the time of the survey, nearly 80 per cent of the population had received no dose of the COVID19 vaccine. Currently, nearly 25 per cent of the population in J&K is fully vaccinated as per J&K Government data. However, since then the vaccination has scaled up and the seropositivity due to vaccination would have gone up.

The significance of the survey, Dr S Muhammad Salim Khan, HOD Community  Medicine Government College Srinagar and principal investigator of the study said, was that it offered an insight into the extent of the spread of COVID19 in the community.

All districts in Kashmir showed similar antibody prevalence according to the report.

With the slight variations, the highest seroprevalence was detected in district Srinagar with 89.8 per cent of people seropositive and the lowest in  Pulwama with 78.2 per cent positive.