South Kashmir’s Pulwama district has witnessed a jump from 2% prevalence of the COVID-19-generated antibodies among the location population to 27.3% in just two months, indicating a growing trend of seroprevalence in the Valley.
According to the latest survey of the Indian Council of Medical Research, 413 blood samples were collected in 10 different clusters of Pulwama.
“Out of 413, 113 reported to be positive for IgG antibodies against SARS CoV-2 infection, which makes it to 27.3% prevalence, with Sona Samilo village cluster showing highest 52.5% positive prevalence,” the survey suggested.
The first round of ICMR’s national sero survey for SARS COV-2 infection (COVID-19) in Pulwama district carried out between May and June showed only 2% seroprevalence among the population. “From just 2% to over 27% in two months means the disease has been spreading considerably. We are expecting a similar pattern in other districts too,” said Dr. Salim Khan, nodal officer for COVID-19, and Head of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine (SPM), Government Medical College, Srinagar.
4,035 cases
According to the official figures, Pulwama has reported 4,035 COVID-19 positive cases, including 39 cases reported on Saturday. J&K registered 975 new positive cases on Saturday, including 591 from the Jammu and 384 from the Kashmir division.
