More than 60 million Indians, ten times more than official figures, may have been infected with the new coronavirus, medical authorities responsible for the pandemic announced on Tuesday, citing a national study based on serological tests measuring antibodies.
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According to official figures, the Indian population, with more than 6.1 million cases of contamination out of 1.3 billion inhabitants, is the second most affected by the epidemic in the world, after the United States.
But blood tests carried out on 29,000 people in 21 Indian states between mid-August and mid-September, show that the number of infected people could be much higher.
About 6 million people had been exposed to the virus before May
"
The main conclusion of this serological survey is that one in fifteen individuals over the age of 10 had been exposed in August
" to the virus, the director general of the Indian Council of India told a press conference at the Ministry of Health. Balram Bhargava medical research.
The results show that exposure to the virus was higher among those tested in the slums of urban areas (15.6%) and other urban areas (8.2%) than in rural areas (4.4%). .
Serological tests show the antibodies developed by the bodies of people who have been exposed to the coronavirus.
Initial results of serological tests revealed that 0.73% of adults in India, or around 6 million people, had been exposed to the virus before May.
The researchers warn against the reliability of these tests, because they also reveal the antibodies developed during exposure to other coronaviruses, not just that of Covid-19.
India has gradually lifted the very strict containment measures imposed in March in an attempt to save its sinking economy.