TIFR is organizing a special colloquium to discuss the latest results on the SEROSURVEY carried out by multiple institutions in the Mumbai area to understand the prevalence of COVID-19 and delve into the concept of herd-immunity!
Please see the details of the same below:
Title: Mumbai SeroSurvey: Facts and interpretations
Speakers: Prof. Ullas Kolthur and Prof. Sandeep Juneja
Date: 7th August 2020
Time: 3:00 PM Onwards
Venue: Via YouTube Live Link
Abstract:
Understanding the spread of infection & factors that contribute to it is critical to tackling pandemics such as COVID-19. Such studies provide information that is useful for clinicians, epidemiologists & policymakers alike to tweak interventions to fight the crisis better.
NITI-Aayog, BMC, TIFR & partner organizations organized a serosurvey in Mumbai in early July. This survey measured antibodies against SARS-CoV2 in both the general population & health care workers in Matunga (FN), Chembur (MW) & Dahisar (RN). The unique aspect of this study was to capture population density-driven prevalence & possible socio-economic factors that were correlated with infection in slums & non-slums.
The key highlight of the survey design was its large sample size & random unbiased selection of volunteers. We surprisingly found that while the prevalence in the slums was high, it was lower in the non-slums. Another key observation is the implied low infection fatality rate inferred from the prevalence estimates. In this talk, we will discuss the methodology, implementation, results & some interpretations of our findings.