Over 84% of Kashmir's population exposed to Covid-19: Study

Over 84.4% population in Kashmir has been exposed to Covid-19, a study carried out by experts has found.

The pan-Kashmir cross-sectional sero-study was conducted among general population and various subsets of population which include police personnel, healthcare workers, pregnant women by Government Medical College, Srinagar in collaboration with several other premier health institutions in the valley.

“The study among the general population in 10 districts of Kashmir shows 84.3% of our study population was positive for IgG-II (or the anti-spike protein) antibody which is produced after infection with SARS CoV -2 as well as after vaccination," a statement by the GMC, Srinagar, said.

“In the general population of seven years and above, the data was collected in July 2021 with each medical college mentoring two districts. Within each district, 10 clusters were randomly selected and within each cluster 40 samples were collected from individuals more than seven years of age after obtaining proper informed consent for the study,” it added.

Read | Can't order remedies like Red Ant Chutney for Covid: SC

The IgM antibody which is usually produced by recent infection with SARS-CoV-2 (can rarely also be produced in recent vaccination. This antibody was positive in about 20.75 % of participants. Total samples processed and reported include 3586 samples from the general population with mean age of 35.33 ±18 years. Further, 2077 samples were processed and reported from among the police personnel, health workers and antenatal women, the statement added.

“During the time of study, a total of 20.3% participants had received both doses of Covid-19 vaccination and the majority (79.25%) had not received any jabs. However, since then the vaccination has scaled up and the sero positivity due to vaccination would have gone up also,” said Dr Muhammad Salim Khan, Professor and HOD Community Medicine GMC, Srinagar who was the principal investigator of the study.

“We need not to be complacent with the results as new variants could emerge and apprehend immune escape. So we need to follow CAB SOPs and all those who haven't gone for vaccination yet shall do it urgently,” he advised.

The figures reveal that Srinagar and Anantnag districts have the highest sero prevalence in terms of IgG II (anti spike protein IgG antibody)

District wise IgG II (Anti Spike antibodies) status:

Anantnag - 87.23%;
Bandipora - 84.42%
Baramulla -84.91%
Budgam - 83.68%
Ganderbal - 82.8%
Kulgam - 82.95%
Kupwara - 81.05%
Pulwama - 78.24%
Shopian - 86.89%
Srinagar - 89.77%
Total - 84.36%

Watch latest videos by DH here: