India had estimated 6.4 million COVID-19 infections by early May: National serosurvey
New Delhi: The much-awaited findings of the first national serosurvey conducted by the ICMR, published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, indicate that 0.73 per cent adults in India were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 amounting to a total of 6.4 million infections by early May.
The survey was conducted from May 11 to June 4 and covered 28,000 individuals whose blood samples were tested for IgG antibodies using COVID Kavach ELISA kit.
Also, seropositivity was the highest in the age group of 18-45 years (43.3 per cent), followed by those between 46-60 years (39.5 per cent) and it was the lowest among those aged above 60 (17.2 per cent).
It's estimated that there were a total of 64,68,388 adult infections in India by early May, the survey report said.
"The findings of our survey indicated that the overall seroprevalence in India was low, with less than one per cent of the adult population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by mid-May 2020.
"The low prevalence observed in most districts indicates that India is in early phase of the epidemic and the majority of the Indian population is still susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection," the survey report stressed.
It highlighted the need to continue to implement context-specific containment measures including testing of all symptomatics, isolating positive cases and tracing high-risk contacts to slow down transmission and prevent overburdening of the health system.
Males living in urban slums and with occupations involving high risk of exposure to potentially infected persons were associated with seropositivity.
According to the survey report, seroprevalence ranged between 0.62 and 1.03 per cent across the four strata of districts.
The stratification of districts as zero cases (15 districts), low (22 districts), medium (16) and high (17) was done on the basis of the reported number of COVID-19 cases as on April 25.
Based on the overall adjusted seroprevalence of 0.73 per cent and reported number of COVID-19 cases, it was estimated that for every RT-PCR confirmed case of COVID-19 there were 82-130 infections in India.
As part of the survey, a total of 30,283 households were visited from 700 clusters in 70 districts across the four strata. About one-fourth (25.9 per cent) of the surveyed clusters were from urban areas. A total of 28,000 individuals consented to participate, the report stated.
Nearly half (48.5 per cent) of the participants were aged between 18 and 45 and 51.5 per cent (14,390) were females. In all, 18.7 per cent of the participants had an occupation with a high risk of exposure to potentially infected persons.
The survey noted that there could be under-detection of COVID-19 cases in the zero stratum districts on account of low testing as well as poor access to testing laboratories.
In four of the 15 districts in this stratum, COVID-19 testing laboratories were not available in the district headquarters and the samples were transported to the state headquarter hospitals for diagnosis.
The present findings of seropositivity in the strata of districts with zero to low incidence of COVID-19 cases underscores the need to strengthen surveillance and augment the testing of suspected cases in these areas, the survey report said.
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
